


Shackering Up

by aplacewherethereisnodarkness (AAfan), Killermery



Category: Actor RPF, Person of Interest (TV), Person of Interest (TV) RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, Multi, Polygamy (kind of), Shacker, Slow Burn, Vacation, domestic life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-12 21:24:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21483076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AAfan/pseuds/aplacewherethereisnodarkness, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Killermery/pseuds/Killermery
Summary: Amy's family and Sarah's family spend time together on vacation and find that everyone gets along extremely well.
Relationships: Amy Acker/James Carpinello, Amy Acker/Sarah Shahi, Sarah Shahi/Steve Howey
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> We do not own Person of Interest, its characters, nor do we personally know any of the actors and other people in this fic. This RPF is completely fictional and just for fun. No disrespect towards the actors involved and to their families. 
> 
> Special thanks to Paul for being our beta reader.

The plane is about to depart, and Amy is worried because Sarah and her family have not yet boarded. Sarah told Amy that they checked in online before leaving the house, but Amy worries that they are struggling to get to the gate in time, especially with two four-year olds in addition to their eldest child. She was admittedly hoping to have some time to relax and chat with Sarah in the lounge before braving a six hour flight with their rambunctious ten year old, William, plus a couple of unpredictable preschoolers in Knox and Violet. 

Amy remembers when Jack and Ava were around that age. They weren’t twins like Knox and Violet, but being only nineteen months apart made it feel that way sometimes with the needs of each child in those early years. It had been hard, even if James was reasonably good at splitting duties with her as they could always each handle one child whenever they needed to be separated. They were also lucky that Amy’s parents were willing to fly in from Texas whenever they needed extra help with the kids while one of them had to be away for work. She can’t imagine how Sarah does it with adults being outnumbered in their household. Now Amy wishes she would have offered to wait outside the security gates to help Sarah with getting the kids through the screening and whole airport process, especially because Sarah mentioned that Knox is more than a bit of a runner. Amy is so accustomed to travelling with her older children by now that she had forgotten how challenging it can be to go through an airport with younger ones in tow. 

Finally, Amy sees Sarah herding her kids onto the plane, a little more disheveled-looking than she’s used to seeing her. Amy quickly gets James to help Steve with their carry-on luggage while Amy helps seat the children to give Sarah an opportunity to get organized. It had been a little tricky figuring out the seating arrangements as Sarah’s children are quite a bit younger than Jack and Ava. They couldn’t expect the children to sit through a long flight quietly but they could at least try to keep them from constantly fighting with each other. It had been decided that Amy would sit with their eldest, while Sarah and Steve each took a twin. Ava is sitting beside James, while Jack is next to a complete stranger. Amy figures they might need to change it up during the flight depending on how the younger children fare but this is probably the best configuration to start with. 

After only an hour, Sarah and Steve have exhausted the use of activities, games and snacks that they had brought to occupy the twins. William had been quite chatty with Amy, but is starting to get restless as well. Jack offers to sit with him after learning of their mutual interest in video games. Ava, liking the idea of playing the role of a big sister, offers to sit with Violet, but she just scrunches up her nose and burrows into Sarah’s side. Knox, however, is excited to have a new playmate, so he literally kicks Steve out of the seat next to him and offers it to Ava. Amy could see that Violet is reaching an overtired state and that Sarah’s patience is wearing a little thin with the constant clinginess. Amy gets down to Violet’s level and somehow convinces her to let Amy sit with her. Sarah is relieved and as she walks toward Jack’s empty seat, James gets up to offer her his seat instead so she and Steve could sit together. About half an hour later when Sarah feels like she has had enough of a break and should take over from Amy, she finds Violet sleeping soundly, her head resting on Amy’s thigh while her legs are curled up on the seat. Amy assures Sarah that she is fine to leave her that way so Sarah should just relax and enjoy her little break from the kids as long as she can. Sarah thanks Amy, and when she gets back to her seat, she’s glad James is there talking to Steve, so she gets to sit by herself and take a much needed nap. 

It is much easier deplaning, gathering luggage and getting the rental vehicles than Sarah had expected. Steve and James take some of the carry-on luggage and go straight to the car rental place to beat the line ups. Jack is a gentleman, getting a luggage cart and picking up all of the heavier luggage off of the baggage carousel, while Ava and Amy keep the younger kids occupied so Sarah could make sure they have everything. By the time they make it over to the pick-up area, James and Steve are just pulling up in SUVs. The luggage gets loaded into the vehicles and everyone gets in. The beachfront house on West Maui they are renting together is a forty-five minute drive from the airport so Sarah’s family heads directly there. They could easily get in a couple of hours on the beach before dinner as it is literally a few steps away, only the narrow Beach Walk footpath separating the property from the sandy beach. Amy’s family stops by the local market to pick up groceries first. The younger kids need to run around and exert a lot of pent up energy so likely wouldn’t have been able to sit at a restaurant after being reasonably well behaved on the long flight. It would already be past their bedtime back in LA too, so they all agree it is a good idea to stay in for dinner this first night. 

Jack and Ava go to bed at 9 pm as they are more tired than expected after the plane ride and almost a full day with Sarah’s kids. As Sarah is putting her kids to bed, James and Steve have a few beers out on the lanai overlooking the beach while Amy cleans up in the kitchen. Coming out of the twins’ bedroom after tucking them in for the night, Sarah sees Amy stretching a little after putting away the last of the dishes. When Amy reaches a hand to her neck and applies a bit of pressure, Sarah offers to give her a little massage. Amy laughs, saying Sarah is here to relax too, so maybe they can book something at the spa for tomorrow with the girls while the guys do their own thing. 

“It’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done for all of us today,” Sarah says. Amy had been so helpful that Sarah felt like it has been a long time since she has had as much freedom as today. Sarah hadn’t even needed to ask for help. It was as if Amy could read Sarah’s mind or sense her needs somehow, even things Sarah hadn’t anticipated herself.

When Sarah pulls out a chair and signals for her to sit, Amy reluctantly agrees. Amy sits down and then proceeds to tie up her hair in a messy bun to give Sarah access to the area without fear of pulling her hair. At the sight of Amy’s bare neck, Sarah sucks in a deep breath, and holds it for a moment before letting out her breath extra slowly and quietly, hoping Amy hadn’t noticed her initial reaction. Normally she wouldn’t really care what anyone else would have thought or felt, but with Amy, it’s different. Sarah had long since accepted she had special feelings for Amy, but she isn’t going to act on them. She respects Amy so much, she doesn’t want Amy to think she is trying to make a move on her. Amy isn’t attracted to women anyway, and the last thing Sarah wants is to make Amy feel uncomfortable or put her in a situation to say something that really shouldn’t have to be said. 

As Sarah massages the tight areas she feels in Amy’s neck that extend down to her shoulders, Sarah’s mind wanders to their scene in Person of Interest when she got to grab Amy by the throat. She had struggled with the scene as she had to suppress her true feelings and keep her physiological responses in check to avoid potentially causing any awkwardness between them. The first take was terrible because she barely even touched Amy, which made Amy miss the cue for her line because she didn’t even know that was supposed to be the choke. The second take wasn’t much better. Sarah was so frustrated with herself, and after a lot of reassurance from Amy, Sarah decided for the third and hopefully final take, she would just have to do what it takes to get the scene and hope for the best. Thank goodness her character quickly falls unconscious from being tranquilized. Otherwise she was sure Amy would have seen her dilated pupils from being extremely aroused, especially after Amy further tightened the grip Sarah already had on her throat. 

Feeling Sarah’s hands on her neck moving down and outwards over her shoulders, Amy couldn’t help but notice her core temperature rising. Against her own cool skin in the overly air-conditioned house, Amy enjoys the contrasting sensation of Sarah’s seemingly hot hands on her bare skin. Amy feels herself melting under Sarah’s touch, Sarah’s hands soft and smooth, yet powerful and controlled. Amy is acutely aware that Sarah is easily strong enough to choke the life out of someone. Amy recalls that scene from Person of Interest where Sarah was holding her at the throat. She had missed her line on the first take. On the second take, the choke was still unconvincing. That time it actually tickled and Amy broke out in a fit of giggles. It had taken some good-natured teasing and a lot of encouragement from Amy to convince Sarah that it was alright to do it harder, much harder. Finally Sarah nailed it on the third take. In fact, it was so intense, Amy got carried away and tightened Sarah’s grip on her throat, just a little bit, to see how it would feel to be choked for real. She didn’t know why she did that, but because it was a very Root thing to do, no one thought anything of it, including Sarah. 

Both women’s thoughts are interrupted when they hear a loud burst of laughter through the glass where James and Steve are animatedly conversing on the lanai. 

Amy is first to break the silence that had settled between the women. “I remember what it was like to have kids that young. It was a while ago, but I still remember how hard it can be.”

“Tell me about it,” Sarah says. “I heard it gets easier as they get older though. I hope so.” 

“Now that my kids are older, it’s easier in some ways, but harder in others. Take Ava, for example. She’s a great kid, but I worry about her, you know. Growing up in the world today, especially in LA. It’s much different than back when we were growing up in Texas. I mean she seems fine for now, but I hope she’s strong enough to be herself, to stand up for herself. That’s still something I often struggle with myself because I’m so shy,” Amy confides. She turns around for a brief moment, looks at Sarah in admiration and says, “I’m sure that’s something you don’t have to worry about, your daughter having you to look to as an example.” Amy then shrugs her shoulders a little, sighing as she wishes she could be more like Sarah in some ways.

Sarah is quick to reassure Amy and hugs her from behind. “Oh Amy, you’re a wonderful person. There’s nothing wrong with being shy. You’re smart, talented and exceptionally beautiful, the best mom anyone could ask for….”

“Stop, you’re making me blush with all the compliments!” Amy says with a nervous giggle.

Sarah lets go of Amy and resumes the massage, “No I mean it. I often wish I had the patience you do. And you are so observant and giving to those around you. Like today, I honestly wasn’t sure I was going to survive the flight. We barely even made it onto the plane. Violet usually clings to me and I can’t believe she fell asleep in your lap and then let you keep her company the whole rest of the flight. Ava and Jack were wonderful with the boys too. I was worried I’d have to buy everyone on the plane a few drinks for putting up with their antics.” Sarah absentmindedly stops massaging but rests her hands on Amy’s shoulders. “It feels like the first time in a while that I’ve been able to truly relax, knowing the kids were in good hands. If only I could be half the mother you are! You’ve done a wonderful job so far with Jack and Ava.” 

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you to say,” Amy smiles and reaches a hand to her shoulder to give Sarah’s hand a light squeeze, thanking her for the kind words. 

“If you or your kids ever want to babysit for me, let me know. I mean, I love my kids, but they drive me nuts. There’s no reasoning with them, you know,” Sarah says as she resumes massaging Amy’s neck and shoulders. 

“And you’re constantly outnumbered,” Amy offers. 

“Exactly,” Sarah says. “And it’s impossible to find help that will love them like family.”

“Well, maybe you and Steve should move in next door to us, and Ava would be happy to start a little babysitting business!” Amy jokes. “Consider the next two weeks her job interview.” 

“If she doesn’t wanna run away from them after a couple of days, I’d consider that a success. They’re monsters!” Sarah says. 

“But they’re your cute little monsters! William and Knox are like Steve’s mini-me, although I do see quite a bit of you in Knox too. And Violet looks exactly like you… well, maybe you as Shaw, with that constant scowl. She’s not easily impressed, is she?” Amy says, laughing. 

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Sarah says, letting out a chuckle. “She makes you work really hard for her smiles. I admit that it lights up my world when she does though.” 

“Well, let’s see what we can do about that then. A couple of weeks in one of the most beautiful places in the world? Surely we can give her plenty to smile about!” Amy replies. 

Sarah laughs, “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Amy stretches her neck from side to side, and feeling a little looser, says “Hmm, you do have the magic touch. Thanks, it feels so much better already.” 

“Anytime. It’s more than a fair trade,” Sarah says. “Thanks for all your help with my kids today. You know, this is the first time in months the kids have been in bed this early. We normally have trouble getting them down before midnight!” 

Amy laughs, “You know, it is past midnight in LA.” 

As Sarah finishes massaging, she rests her hands on Amy’s shoulders and says, “I suppose. But you know what I mean.” The women share a laugh of understanding.

The men come in and see Amy sitting in a chair as Sarah finishes massaging her neck.

Steve approaches Sarah from behind and puts an arm around her, “Hey, can I get some of that?” referring to the massage, of course. 

“And what have you done to deserve it?” Sarah says in a jokingly harsh tone. “Amy sat through the entire plane ride talking to our kids or letting them use her as a pillow. Then she gets us all organized, plays with the kids, cooks for all of us and cleans up. What did you do? Drive us here from the airport, take the luggage in and out of the car, that it? Shame on you letting Amy do all of the work!” Sarah says, pretending to be angry. Then she laughs and adds, “I think punishment is in store for you tonight,” as she turns around and slaps his ass. 

Steve laughs, “Well, as they say, you should praise in public, and punish in private.” Sarah lets out a squeal as Steve picks her up and carries her toward their bedroom. 

“Goodnight you two,” Amy says, with a slight giggle as she looks at James who is just shaking his head while grinning at how crazy Sarah and Steve are. 

James comes and puts his hand on Amy’s shoulder, “You ok, Baby? Sorry, I guess Steve and I did sorta leave most of the work to you gals a bit today.” 

“It’s ok. I loved being around Sarah’s kids. It’s tiring, but I kinda miss when Jack and Ava were that age, back when things seemed a bit more simple. You know, feed them, clean them, play with them, cuddle them, and repeat. Now, there’s the messy teenage stuff to deal with, like boyfriends and girlfriends, and body image, healthy friendships, setting them up to succeed as adults, which isn’t that far away now, as scary as that is.” 

“The kids are doing fine. They’ll find their way. And they know we’ll always be there for them. You’re the best mom anyone could ask for,” James tries to reassure Amy. “I love you. Come on, let’s go to bed.”

“I love you too, Sweetie,” Amy says as she smiles and leans into James’ chest and then they head upstairs to their bedroom.


	2. Chapter 2

Amy wakes up the next day at 4:30 am, although truly, she hadn’t slept much at all. While still dressed in her pink pajamas with cute elephant prints, Amy heads downstairs to make breakfast for everyone. The guys are taking the boys sport fishing for the day and have to get to the harbor by 6 am. As James, Steve, Jack and William get themselves ready, Amy helps with Knox so that Sarah can sleep in. Their girls’ spa day plans don’t start until 10 am so Amy figures she can go back to bed after the boys head out.

When the boys are almost finished eating, Sarah groggily strolls into the kitchen, dressed only in a white oversized bathrobe. She doesn’t care though. The guest bathrobe was so amazingly soft and warm against her bare skin. She had been trying to get up for the last twenty minutes to help get her boys dressed, but she kept falling back asleep until the smell of pancakes finally lured her away from the comfortable bed. Everyone says good morning, and she sees the boys are already dressed and ready to go as soon as they finish a few last bites of breakfast. She feels bad that she slept through it all and let Amy take care of everything for them once again.

“Amy, thanks for taking care of things again. But seriously, you have to stop doing everything by yourself. You’re on vacation too. You’ll wear yourself out before we even get to the con on Friday. Let me help next time,” Sarah says as she piles a few pancakes from the serving plate on the counter next to Amy onto her own plate.

“I’m normally up by this time in LA anyway,” Amy says, humbly diminishing her own contributions, shifting the focus away from herself and how giving she is to those around her.

“No offense but you look exhausted, like you haven’t slept all night,” Sarah points out.

“You two crazy kids probably kept her up all night making all that racket! I’m lucky I can sleep through almost anything,” James jokes.

Jack’s face turns a little red at James’ comment, obviously shy and uncomfortable with the topic at hand. William and Knox are too busy arguing with each other about some nonsense to pay any mind to the others. Besides, the latter two are used to their parents’ constantly overboard displays of affection and use of sexual innuendos in everyday conversation that they aren’t fazed one bit.

“No, it wasn’t that. I just couldn’t get comfortable, being in a new place and all. Besides, I want to make sure the boys remember to pack everything they need for the day.” Amy smiles shyly, shaking her head at James but when she starts to feel her cheeks reddening, she turns back to the stove to turn the pancakes over, even though she knows they weren’t quite ready to be flipped yet.

Amy’s back is facing the rest of the room, but from where Sarah is standing, she sees Amy bite her bottom lip and close her eyes for a long moment as she draws in a deep breath. It’s obvious to her that Amy has something on her mind.

Steve and Sarah feel a little bad not just for being too loud and ruining Amy’s sleep, but also because they see Jack is uncomfortable.

“Sorry about that. But in a few years, Jack, you’ll find it funny,” Steve says.

“Oh my god, Steve! I’m so sorry you guys,” Sarah says. Then turning to Steve, she adds, “You’ll pay for that!”

“Yeah? Make me!” Steve says with the biggest smile. James and Amy just laugh it up.

“Later. First I want some pancakes!” Sarah says enthusiastically as sits down with her stack of pancakes.

Giving Jack an opportunity to escape the awkwardness, Amy says to him, “Jack, I think I put the sunscreen in the orange backpack for you guys. Would you mind checking just in case?”

“Sure, Mom,” Jack says, clearing his plate as he leaves the table. He flashes a momentary smile in relief to his mom, thanking her for reading his mind.

“Can you be a more perfect wife and mom?” Sarah says, her usual lighthearted demeanor returning. “You’re making me look bad,” Sarah says as she stuffs a large mouthful of pancake into her mouth.

Amy’s eyes flicker, “I couldn’t make you look bad if I tried,” she replies with a swagger, effortlessly transforming into her character Root from Person of Interest. When she realizes what she just did, that same strange feeling from earlier takes over her again.

“She’s right Babe,” Steve says, as he puts his empty dish in the sink and comes back to the table where Sarah is sitting and starts to kiss her neck. He then exaggerates his sucking and licking like a horny inexperienced teenager until Sarah’s had enough of his antics and playfully pushes him away.

Sarah laughs, “You know that’s a line from her character Root, right?”

“Doesn’t make it not true,” Steve retorts.

“Alright, everybody ready to go?” James asks, looking at his watch as he gets up from the table.

“Yeah!” Knox yells, jumping up from the table. “Mommy, we’re gonna catch a fish THIS big for you,” he says with his arms outstretched as far as possible.

“Oh, that’s lovely, Bluey,” Sarah says and then gives him a great big hug.

“You’re too small to catch one that big. You’d better be careful it doesn’t pull you into the water!” William teases his little brother.

“No I’m not too small!” Knox yells back.

“William Wolf Howey! How many times do I have to tell you to stop goading your brother?” Sarah says, frustrated with their constant bickering.

William falls silent, not wanting to apologize. The truth is that he is a little sad that mom will be spending the day with Violet, and he is going to miss her.

Trying to help everyone get back on track, Amy bends down between Knox and William and says, “How about you boys work together, and maybe you can catch one THIS big!” Amy says, stretching her own arms wide like Knox had before. “Then, we can take it to the restaurant and watch them cook it for our dinner tonight. How does that sound?”

“Yes! We’ll catch us a big fish, so big, bigger than me!” Knox says excitedly as he runs to the front hall to put his shoes on.

“Cool. We can watch them cut it up and pull out its big guts and everything!” William says. He gives Sarah a quick hug before putting his shoes on. “Bye Mom,” he calls from the front hall before going outside to join Jack who was putting the backpack into the SUV.

“Ok, ladies, we’ll be back around 4 pm, so we’ll meet back here before we go for dinner,” James says. “Have we made the dinner reservations yet?”

“All set for 6 pm,” Amy replies.

“Of course Amy’s got it covered. Now go, before you miss the boat,” Sarah says.

“Alright. Bye Sarah. Bye Baby,” James says, kissing Amy on the side of her head as he leaves.

“Bye Sweetie. Have fun you guys!” Amy says.

“See you gals later,” Steve says, and Sarah turns around as he gives her a quick peck on the lips. As he turns to leave, Sarah slaps his ass really hard. Steve grins and exaggerates a reactionary jump, “YEAH!” he exclaims.

The guys pile into one of the SUVs. The harbor is only about ten minutes away, so James easily makes it there in good time.

While Sarah is stuffing her face with pancakes, Amy takes a plate and starts serving herself. She had made sure there was enough food for the guys first and then figured out how many more pancakes she needed to make. With a pretty large stack of pancakes still left on the serving plate, Amy sets aside the extra batter in case she needs it for later when the girls wake up. She brings a bowl of mixed berries to the table and offers it to Sarah.

“Ok Amy, what’s going on?” Sarah asks between mouthfuls of pancake.

“What do you mean?” Amy says innocently.

“Well, for one thing, you lied earlier. I’ve seen you on set remember? I know you can sleep anywhere and everywhere,” Sarah says while glaring at Amy, not letting her get away without giving a real answer.

“It’s nothing really. Just had a lot on my mind I guess,” Amy replies. That wasn’t a complete lie. Hearing Sarah with Steve, even if it was only for a few seconds while Amy was in the hallway headed towards her own bedroom, had had such an effect on Amy that she couldn’t get her mind off Sarah for the rest of the night. The sounds Sarah was making reminded Amy of their love scene from Person of Interest. She had liked the feeling of being thrown onto a table and having Sarah rip her shirt open, Sarah’s smooth skin and warm body against her own. She remembered the buzzing sensation from kissing Sarah’s soft full lips, the sweet smell of Sarah’s hair, and the biting…oh the biting. Amy bites her lower lip before using both hands to raise her cup of coffee to her mouth. She takes a long slow sip, trying to hide her face. She feels guilty for thinking of whether Sarah is like Shaw in the bedroom, especially last night while she was lying next to a sleeping James whom she loves so much.

“Seriously though, did we keep you up? Hope your kids didn’t hear us. I’m sorry, we do tend to get carried away,” Sarah says.

“It’s fine. We’re adults. And my kids know about how babies are made, so don’t worry about it,” Amy says with a shy smile.

“Have your kids ever walked in on you and James?” Sarah asks.

Amy’s coffee goes down the wrong way and she starts coughing. When she recovers, realizing Sarah is still waiting for her to answer, she exclaims, “What? No, at least I hope not! Why? Have your kids walked in on you and Steve before?”

“A few times during the day. But now they know better. When I’m screaming ‘killer’ I don’t actually mean there’s a murderer in the house,” Sarah says with a smirk, obviously having fun oversharing with Amy.

“Killer?” Amy asks, not really sure if she wants to know the answer but still finds herself a little curious.

“That’s the nickname I use for Steve in the bedroom,” Sarah explains. “What about you? What do you call James in the sack?”

“I call him James,” Amy responds, admitting that she’s quite tame.

“Really, Amy?” Sarah says. “I mean to each her own, but I think it adds more fun to it if you have special nicknames for each other just for the bedroom. You know what Steve calls me?” Sarah asks, although she’s going to share regardless.

“Do I even wanna know?” Amy laughs in response, her shyness on the topic of discussion quickly fading.

“A-ho,” Sarah says proudly, and lets out a big laugh.

“What?!” Amy says, laughing, not quite sure if she heard right.

“Oh, you heard me. I’m a professional fucker,” Sarah says crudely. “So, what does James call you?”

“Ok…you can’t tell anyone though. Promise?” Amy doesn’t usually talk much even when her closest girlfriends discuss their sex lives, but for some reason she’s inclined to share with Sarah.

“Promise,” Sarah responds.

“Well, he calls me…” Amy hesitates for a moment before continuing, “Oh this is embarrassing. But I have to admit I like it when he calls me his ‘Angel’ and I like it even more because we met through a mutual friend while I was on the show Angel which was my first major acting role, and I have such fond memories of that time of my life,” Amy rambles. “I guess it makes me feel young like back then, and I remember how much fun James was then and still is, although a bit more tame now, but in a good way.”

“Aww that’s so sweet,” Sarah says in a high-pitched voice while making a funny smiley face. Then reverting back to her normal voice she adds, “But seriously Amy, you are an angel. You’re smart, beautiful, adorable, kind, and damn, you make the best pancakes!”

Amy giggles shyly at so many compliments. “Like the saying goes, ‘The best way to someone’s heart is through their stomach,’” Amy says with her winsome smile.

“You keep cooking like this, you can have more than just my heart,” Sarah laughs and stuffs the last of the pancake on her plate into her mouth before taking another stack of pancakes from the serving plate.

They fall into a comfortable silence while eating, each woman wrapped up in her own thoughts.

Sarah wonders how Amy would react if she knew Sarah had truly meant that last part of what she said. Amy had never given any clear indication whether she was interested in women romantically, but Sarah does notice Amy is a bit different around her than she is with other people, more open, even flirty at times. However it is also clear that Amy loves James, the kind of true love that grows with each passing day. Sarah would never want to ruin that for Amy, but she wonders whether James would be as cool as Steve had been when Sarah had told him about her feelings for Amy. Of course, Steve was aware that Sarah was bisexual before they got married. But Steve understands that Sarah’s feelings for Amy doesn’t mean that Sarah loves him any less, or that there is something missing from their marriage. Sarah just has such a capacity to love, and there is an undeniable unique chemistry between her and Amy, both on and off screen. Steve knows that Amy is a good person, and while he is not physically attracted to her, he can still understand and accept Sarah’s feelings for her.

Still, Sarah does feel some guilt for wanting to also be with Amy. While it was originally Amy’s idea to turn the Comic Con Honolulu and HawaiiCon trip into a joint family vacation, Sarah was almost hoping the trip would allow her to see that Amy isn’t as perfect as she seems, making it easier to stop pining for her. Well, maybe not exactly pining, but perhaps it would make it easier for Sarah to leave those feelings behind. She figured it would be impossible even for Amy to keep up best behavior 24/7 in close quarters for such an extended time. But so far, this trip has only made Sarah love Amy even more, especially after seeing how good she is with the kids, including Violet who doesn’t normally like anybody. Amy is such an amazing woman, she really is everything and more, Sarah thinks to herself.

Amy feels a profound happiness spreading through her. Maybe it is just being on vacation, being in Hawaii, and spending time with a good friend that is making her feel this way. She sips from her coffee slowly and starts to daydream about how wonderful this vacation with Sarah’s family will be. She also thinks about how much fun they could have together, just the two of them, when they attend Comic Con Honolulu this weekend while their husbands stay back here with the kids and again at HawaiiCon in Kona the following weekend after everyone else flies back to LA. It has been a long time since Amy has had any real one-on-one time with Sarah after Person of Interest wrapped a few years ago. They’ve seen each other several times, but usually with mutual acquaintances or friends. Clexacon is an exception, but because Sarah is such a huge fan favorite there and is extremely busy, there is little time for them to really talk outside of their joint panel and photo op session which is really just for the fans.

Amy hadn’t noticed before, but she really misses being around Sarah. It’s different than how she misses her other former cast mates like Michael (Emerson), but perhaps it’s because she gets to see him a little more often as their social circles overlap quite a bit more than with Sarah’s. Amy glances over at Sarah and this time her eyes are instinctively drawn to Sarah’s chest as the oversized bathrobe has become loose, exposing her cleavage. Amy absentmindedly sucks in a deep breath and lets out a little sigh.

Just then Violet comes running into the kitchen excitedly, “Amy! Amy! Wanna come play with me?”

Sarah says, “Good morning Vivi.” Sarah is rather enjoying not having Violet cling to her from the moment she is up for the day.

“Oh, hi Mommy. I’m going to go play with Amy,” Violet says.

“Moonpie, why don’t you have some breakfast first. Auntie Amy got up really early to make the most delicious pancakes for us,” Sarah says.

“But I want to play!” Violet insists. “Ava is still sleeping. Maybe if I take a flashlight and point it at her eyes, maybe then she will wake up and play with me!”

“How about we play for one minute, and then you sit down at the breakfast table and eat as many pancakes as you can. Just one minute though or your mommy will eat them all,” Amy jokes.

“Hmm, never mind we can play later. I’m a little hungry and Mommy isn’t good at sharing food,” Violet says. Then in a loud whisper to Amy with her hand covering the side of her mouth closest to Sarah, she adds, “You should hide some for Ava for when she wakes up.”

Amy and Sarah both laugh at how true and unfiltered Violet’s words are.

“Hey, Jack,” Steve says as they walk towards the other side of the deck, a little distance away from the others. “I wanted to apologize for earlier and making you even more uncomfortable than you already were.” Once they reach the other side, Steve leans against the small railing next to Jack, both of them staring out into the ocean. Steve is first to break the silence that had fallen between them, “You know, sex is natural. It’s a part of life. There’s no shame in it.”

“Did my dad ask you to talk to me?” Jack asks, even though he already knows the answer. Jack had overheard James apologizing to Steve for making that awkward comment at breakfast, and confiding that he doesn’t know if his talks with Jack about the birds and bees actually get through. Steve had offered to talk with Jack and James agreed that back when he was a teen himself, he sometimes found it easier to talk to another close and trusted adult that wasn’t his own parents.

“Yeah,” Steve admits. “Your dad just wants you to know that if you have any questions or just want to talk, no matter how embarrassing, he wants you to know that he’ll listen and he’ll be there for you. And you know, me too. I’m not shy talking about it. I guess you can kinda tell that Sarah and I are pretty much an open book when it comes to talking about relationships and sex. And I promise I won’t judge.”

“You guys wouldn’t understand,” Jack says, much like a typical teenager.

“You won’t know unless you give us chance, but if you don’t want to talk about it, I understand too.” Steve then jokes, “But if you don’t want to talk, then I’ll start from the very beginning about how the sperm meets the egg, and all the different ways that can…”

“Okay, okay,” Jack interrupts with a laugh. “Well… I guess there’s this girl I like, but she’s not exactly the type of girl my dad probably goes for. I mean this girl isn’t anything like my mom. She’s really outgoing, loves to dance, sing, party, you know,” Jack says.

“You seem to think your dad was always so tame. You know, he used to be quite the bad boy and attracted more than his fair share of party girls, from what I’ve heard,” Steve says. “I think your mom is the anomaly.”

“I guess, well, the problem is…I don’t know if she’ll like me. We’re so different. We’re in a few of the same classes and I even sit at the desk in front of her in one of them,” Jack says with a big sigh.

“I think I get it. You try to be a quiet gentleman but it hasn’t gotten her attention and you don’t want to act like those jerks who say and do stupid things just to get her to notice you,” Steve takes a guess.

Jack nods.

“Have you actually tried asking her out?” Steve asks bluntly.

“…I guess not,” Jack hesitates to admit. “But I’m pretty sure she knows I like her.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. You can’t read her mind, nor expect her to read yours. Either way, she might just want to be asked, you know in actual words.”

“But what would I even say? And what if she says ‘No’?” Jacks asks. “What if she tells her friends? What if it gets around school? What if people start thinking I’m some sort of loser who can’t get a date?”

“Oh Jack, I hear you. I know kids can be cruel, so I’m not going to tell you that it couldn’t happen, even if it’s unlikely to get that bad. You’re worried about what’s the worst that can happen,” Steve sympathizes. “Have you thought about what could happen if she says ‘Yes’? Life is full of risks, and if you think she’s worth it, then I say go for it.” Steve says. “Sure you’re a quiet gentleman, but you’re also fun and into cool stuff. If the girls can’t see that, then they are the foolish ones. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but life is sometimes unfair and often full of rejection, but you need to learn to love yourself, lean on your true friends, and develop enough self-respect to be able to get through it.”

“But what do I say if they start making fun of me?”

“I’d just point out that you didn’t hurt anybody by just asking, and then move on,” Steve says. “Take the high road. Maybe the girl will see your maturity and come around. Maybe it’s not meant to be and someone else will come along. At this age, dating isn’t always just about liking someone, but also learning about yourself and how you want to be treated, and how to treat others. I know it’s scary sometimes, but it can be so amazing too.”

“What was it like when you met Sarah?” Jack asks. “Did you ask her out right away?”

“Yeah, I did. The acting world is weird, you know. In some ways it’s very small, like high school, where almost everyone knows each other or at least knows of each other. Rumors can get started and blown up really quickly. But in other ways it’s really big and you don’t know when or if you’ll ever see someone again and get another chance,” Steve says. “I wasn’t about to let Sarah slip away without at least putting myself out there.”

“And you weren’t nervous?” Jack asks.

“Sure I was. I mean Sarah was just a couple years out of SMU when I met her on set and even though she was doing a guest role and I was a regular, she had actually played a lot more roles than I had even though I’d been in the biz for more than twice as long. She was still a relatively fresh face and already getting so much acting work, so I figured that was my one shot before she’d be way outta my league. Sarah turned out to be such an open-minded, wonderful and strong woman who never minded that I wasn’t exactly a Hollywood A-lister. I probably never will be, and she loves me regardless. She loves me for who I am and I have to say I feel like the luckiest guy in the world! I would have missed out on the woman of my dreams if I hadn’t mustered up the courage to ask her out.”

“But that’s easy for you to say. You’re not shy all the time, like me,” Jack says.

“Doesn’t mean I never screw up. It’s funny, with Sarah I actually did embarrass myself the first time talking with her. I was so smitten with her that when I was trying to ask her out, it felt like my brain was running faster than my mouth. I had all these things I wanted to say to her, and it just ended up a jumbled mix of incoherent words. She laughed a little, but she was really sweet and gave me her full attention until I was finally able to form a proper sentence,” Steve chuckles, remembering that moment all too well. “If you’re really nervous, just keep it simple and straight forward when asking her out. If she says ‘Yes’, then you’ll have plenty of time to tell her all those other things later when you’ve had a chance to organize your thoughts. Just take it one step at a time.”

“Ok, thanks. Maybe I’ll try that,” Jack says as he looks up to meet Steve’s eyes to show his sincerity.

“Any time, Jack,” Steve says, putting his arm around Jack as if he were his own son as they walk back to see what the others are up to.

When Sarah, Amy and the girls arrive at the spa, in addition to their pre-booked facial and body scrub treatments, and the girls’ princess treatment package, they are able to add mother-daughter side-by-side massages to the day’s appointments. They have all day access to the spa facilities, and there is just about everything anyone could want in a spa experience, including a gym with state of the art equipment. Sarah hits the gym for the first hour while Amy, Ava and Violet enjoy the various pools. The steam room and sauna are too hot for Violet’s liking, as is the hot tub, although she does enjoy sitting at the edge and dipping her toes in for a few seconds, if only just to be able to say that she’s in the hot tub like a big girl, just like Ava whom she has come to admire. When Sarah is done at the gym, Amy joins a yoga class with Ava while Sarah and Violet go swimming in the larger main pool on the resort.

The spa isn’t busy so they have the semi-private area by the infinity pool all to themselves for most of the afternoon while they eat lunch and relax between their spa treatments. The estheticians take the girls for their princess treatments while the moms are getting their facials and body scrub treatments. Afterwards, the girls keep each other company and never once does Violet miss her mom. In fact, when Sarah and Amy come back from their treatments, Violet announces, “Mommy, Ava is my sister now because she’s living with us and I love her.”

“Aww, I know you love Ava, but Ava is part of Auntie Amy’s family. She’s Jack’s sister,” Sarah tries to explain to her four year old daughter.

“Well, they can all be in our family. Two mommies and two daddies and two sisters and three brothers,” Violet replies.

“Moonpie, it doesn’t work that way,” Sarah says.

“Why not?!” Violet starts to scowl, unsatisfied with the explanation. “At school, River has two mommies and two daddies and lots of brothers and a sister and they’re a family.”

“Well, that’s true. But…uh…,” Sarah replies, unsure how to explain adult romantic relationships and how families are formed and structured in an age-appropriate manner.

Luckily for Sarah, the topic is quickly dropped as the staff appear to take them to their respective rooms for their mother-daughter side by side massages. When they come upon Sarah and Violet’s room first, Violet doesn’t want to be separated from Ava. The spa staff offers to join their two rooms by opening up the partition wall to allow all four of them to be together. Rather than let Violet make a loud protest and disturb others in the surrounding treatment rooms, they agree that will probably be best.

Amy helps cover Ava until she is under the sheet on the massage table before undressing herself while Sarah does the same for Violet. Just before Amy slides under her own sheet, she can’t help but get a glimpse of Sarah’s naked body as Sarah walks through her line of vision from the clothes hook on the door all the way back to the massage table. Amy wets her lips and doesn’t realize when that glimpse turns into a stare. Sarah notices, so she smirks and gives Amy the once-over before meeting her eyes and winking at her, purposefully letting Amy know she’s been caught staring and Sarah is simply returning the favor. Surprisingly, Amy doesn’t feel embarrassed and she just lets out a little giggle, knowing she has been caught and Sarah is not upset about it at all. Both women don’t say a word though as they climb under their own sheets and lay face down just as the massage therapists knock and ask if they are ready.

Time is seemingly tighter than expected to make their dinner reservations as everyone is having a great time reconnecting back at the house. They somehow make it on time and the good family atmosphere continues over dinner. Violet eagerly eats everything that Ava puts on her plate as they race to see who can eat the fastest. For most of the evening, William describes in great detail all their shenanigans while at sea in tandem with Knox’s animated commentary. The boys sensationalize their role in catching the 32.3 pound mahi mahi they are having for dinner. In reality, they had tired of reeling it in after only a minute or two and asked James to take over, but James was more than happy to give the boys all the credit.

Sarah keeps up the conversation at the table with her boys, and Amy and Jack share some quiet mother/son time next to each other while listening to the others. Steve and James are talking about their younger years when James used to play hockey, and Steve actually went to college on a basketball scholarship. The restaurant server mentions what a lovely family they are and assumes the kids are cousins. With how close they seem to each other, the server says the kids seem more like siblings than cousins and asks if they live really close to each other back home.

After the Howey kids are tucked in for the night, Sarah and Steve say good night and head upstairs to their bedroom. Amy and James hang out a little longer on the couch just cuddling, drinking a calming herbal tea and talking about the day with Jack and Ava. When the kids go to bed, Amy and James stay behind for a few minutes to wash everyone’s cups. Afterward, as they go upstairs, they hear Sarah and Steve at it again, but Amy mostly just hears Sarah climaxing. Amy sort of freezes, wondering if Sarah has wild sex every night. She feels a little like she is intruding on them, but at the same time is a bit aroused and feels herself turning red in the face. James assumes Amy is just embarrassed. He jokes, “Are you embarrassed? They have three kids. You know it’s not the stork that brings them, right?”

Amy recovers from whatever she is feeling and replies, “You mean it wasn’t the stork that gave us Jack and Ava? I’ve always thought the kids have the stork’s nose.”

“Come here,” James says as he opens their bedroom door, picks Amy up and carries her over the threshold as if they were newlyweds. Amy giggles as James closes the door behind them.


	3. Chapter 3

Amy finally sits down with the other adults at the table who are finishing their breakfast. The kids are already off playing with Jack and Ava somewhere in the house. James offers to get a fresh cup of coffee for Amy since Amy’s coffee had gotten cold while cooking for everyone. On the way back to bringing the cup of fresh hot coffee to Amy, he flashes a mischievous grin at Steve and Sarah while showing them a spider from William’s small toy collection before dropping it in Amy’s cup.

“Here, Baby,” James says as he approaches Amy from behind, sets her mug on the table and gives her a peck on the top of her head.

“Thanks, Sweetie,” Amy says as she takes a tiny sip of the coffee. It’s a bit too hot now, so she sets it back down and continues eating her breakfast. She doesn’t notice the other three giving each other a funny look.

The three of them aren’t sure if Amy just hasn’t noticed the spider yet or if she figured them out already and is purposefully not reacting to their practical joke. They all go on eating and chatting as normal, eventually forgetting about the spider.

Almost everyone is done eating a few minutes later but they are having a great time sitting at the table chatting with each other while Amy is still finishing her meal.

“Ah!” Amy suddenly screams as she jumps in her seat at the sight of the creepy critter in her mug, accidentally spilling coffee on herself in the process. “Ow!…Ugh.” The coffee was still quite hot, and while Amy could take little sips of the coffee at that temperature, spilling a large amount of it on her chest still burned. The three mischievous ones were too busy laughing at their well-executed prank to notice.

“She’s gonna kill you,” Steve says through his laughter.

“I guess I’ll be sleeping on the couch tonight,” James says, proud that he was able to pull it off and get such a big reaction.

Sarah, still chuckling, looks over at Amy and sees she isn’t laughing at all.

“Shit! Oh my god, Amy!” Sarah jumps up from her seat with some napkins that she uses to dab Amy’s clothes while dumb and dumber continue to laugh, not realizing the extent of the situation. Starting around just under Amy’s collarbone where the coffee was starting to set into the fabric, she dabs towards the other side, trying to keep the coffee from soaking further into Amy’s shirt. Sarah happens to see some coffee pooling at the top edge of Amy’s bra, in the space between her breasts and stares for a moment, wanting to dab at it. Realizing that would be very awkward, she stops and looks up at Amy.

Amy, having somewhat recovered from her scare and set down the mug with little coffee left in it, catches Sarah staring down her shirt. She feels herself getting warm, not only where she could feel the burn from the coffee, but the heat spreads all the way up to her face. She often admires Sarah’s body, and starts to feel a little self-conscious as she can’t help but wonder if Sarah likes what she sees. When their eyes meet, there is a second of awkwardness between them, both of them seeing something in the other’s eyes but still unsure of what exactly there was between them, if anything.

“Uh… you should probably get that,” Sarah says as she looks down to show Amy where the pool of coffee was forming and starting to soak into her bra. Sarah notices Amy’s flushed complexion and can’t help but feel herself turn a bit red too, perhaps embarrassed that Amy must realize that Sarah had been staring down her shirt in order for her to even notice the pooling coffee in the first place. She reminds herself that Amy is not attracted to her anyway, and Amy is merely flush from the burn and perhaps embarrassment from her overreaction to a little toy spider.

“Oh! Thanks,” Amy says, taking the napkins Sarah is offering and then reaching into her shirt to soak up the coffee. Starting to regain her full composure, she cracks a smile, “That was mean! I hate y’all,” she says to the pranksters.

Sarah takes a better look and winces now that she sees exactly how red Amy’s chest is from the burn. “Does it hurt a lot? Amy, I’m so sorry,” Sarah says as she hugs Amy. “James, how hot was that coffee?!” she scolds. Then she turns to her own husband and sternly orders, “Steve, go get a clean cloth and wet it with cold water.”

“I’m okay, it’s no big deal. I’ll be fine,” Amy replies.

“We’re so sorry Amy, we just thought it’d be fun to mess with you, but we didn’t mean for you to get hurt,” Sarah says as Steve hands her the cold wet cloth. Sarah puts it in Amy’s hand and partially clasps it between her own before bringing the cloth up, placing it on the burn area. She then lets Amy hold the cool cloth in place herself.

“Sorry, Baby. I was stupid. I should have made sure it wasn’t too hot before giving it to you,” James says.

“Yeah, sorry Amy,” Steve chimes in. “We just want you to relax, loosen up and have a little fun. You’ve been so focused on taking care of everything and everybody. We appreciate it, but you really don’t need to.”

“I know. But I want to do it. I love cooking. And I want everyone to be comfortable around here,” Amy replies.

“And believe me, Amy, we are. Promise me, today you’ll let me help you with the cooking and the guys can do the cleanup.” Sarah says, giving Amy a firm squeeze before releasing her.

“Okay,” Amy says reluctantly.

“James, you still standing there like an idiot?! Give your wife a hug and make it up to her already!” Sarah says in her jokingly harsh tone that she often reserves for Steve.

“Yes ma’am,” James says with a salute, trying to keep a straight face.

Sarah slaps James hard on his upper arm. He jumps back playfully and looks over at Amy, “She hit me! That actually hurt. So violent.”

“Good, you deserve it,” Amy says with a chuckle.

“Yeah James, serves you right,” Steve snickers. Just then, Sarah slaps him in the arm too.

“Ouch!” Steve complains as he follows Sarah out of the room to find some rags or a mop to clean up the floor.

James walks over to Amy, pulls her up to a standing position, puts his arms around her and kisses her on the cheek. “Sorry Baby. Why don’t you get changed and we’ll clean up everything here. Just put the clothes on top of the washer and I’ll go out later when the stores open to get some laundry supplies so I can wash them when I get back.”

The Carpinello and Howey kids are enjoying the morning on the beach. Sarah and Steve take turns between laying in the sand and watching the little ones. Amy had promised to come out to the beach almost an hour ago but she is still in the house. Every time Sarah had gone back into the house to tell Amy to drop everything and worry about lunch and dinner prep later, Amy kept saying, “I’m almost done. Just one more thing, I promise,” until Sarah finally gave up.

She is still in the middle of food prep when James returns from the store, and he asks her why she isn’t outside with everyone else. After applying stain remover to Amy’s coffee-stained clothes and leaving them to soak, he changes into his swim trunks and heads down to the beach to meet the others after Amy again promises that she will join them in a few minutes.

It’s now 10:30 am and Sarah is thinking Amy is never going to come out. It has been half an hour since James came to join them. From their spot on the beach, they can see Amy through the glass door to the kitchen, still busying herself with food prep and occasionally flipping through a cookbook, probably to start on yet another recipe.

“Should we try again to go get Amy?” Sarah asks. “I keep telling her that we’ll all help later so she should relax and come join us, but she won’t listen.”

“I already told her on my way down here,” James said. “Steve, you’re up. Drag her out here if you have to.”

“Alright, if you say so,” Steve says as he heads back up to the house.

Steve opens the glass door and walks up to Amy at the kitchen counter. “I know. I know. I’m coming. Just let me finish this last thing here,” she says. “Just one more…ah!” she screams as Steve picks her up and throws her over his shoulder, carrying her outside of the house and down to the beach.

James and Sarah laugh when they see Steve holding Amy over his shoulder as she protests unsuccessfully, “Come on. Put me down!”

Steve keeps going until he’s about waist deep into the ocean. “Okay, I’ll put you down. Here you go!” Steve laughs before tossing Amy into the water.

“Okay, very funny,” Amy smiles as she gets up and then walks back to shore while trying to direct her best playful scolding look at the adults. Everyone breaks out in hysterics and the kids all start splashing at her, joining in the fun. She gives up and agrees to join everyone on the beach as soon as she changes out of her now drenched and very heavy clothing.

After another ten minutes pass, Sarah goes back to the house to check if Amy is really coming back out. She finds Amy sitting outside in a chair on the shaded side of the lanai, applying sunscreen. Sarah’s eyes follow Amy’s hand movements as they slide over the longest and most beautiful set of legs Sarah has ever seen. Sarah feels her chest and face warm when she realizes she’s been staring, although she is a bit relieved to see that Amy hadn’t seemed to notice this time.

When Amy sees Sarah approaching, she wants to tell Sarah that checking up on her was unnecessary, but when she sees Sarah staring at her legs, she decides to pretend not to notice Sarah until she is quite near. Amy likes the thought of Sarah admiring her legs, her best physical feature in her own opinion. It makes her feel less guilty about how she often finds herself looking at and admiring Sarah’s toned and perfectly proportioned body.

“Do you need to re-apply?” Amy asks Sarah, holding out the tube of sunscreen. “You look a bit red on the chest and face.”

“Oh, I’m fine. I usually do get a little red before it turns into a nice tan,” Sarah replies. Then, glancing at Amy’s chest, Sarah says, “I’m not nearly as red as you. Does it still hurt?”

“Oh! I’d actually already forgotten about that,” Amy says as she runs a hand over her chest and then rubs a little at the top of her breast on the side that took the worst of it. “I can barely feel it, even when I’m pressing into it. I do have very sensitive and pale skin so it probably looks worse than it really is. I’m sure the redness will be gone by the end of the day.”

“Good, I hope so. Ready to go?” Sarah asks. Then gesturing with her hand for Amy to walk in front, “You first, so I can make sure you really come this time.”

“You just want to check out my backside,” Amy jokes flirtatiously as she saunters past Sarah. She then turns back around to face Sarah while walking backwards down toward the beach. “That’s okay, I’m happy to oblige,” Amy says with her signature bwink before turning back around, adding an extra swing in her hips as she walks.

“You know, forget it,” Sarah shakes her head and then smirks, realizing Amy did catch her staring earlier. “Whoever’s first to the beach gets to pick what to do tomorrow.” Sarah grabs Amy around the waist and propels herself forward before making a dash down towards the beach ahead of Amy. Amy tries to catch up but when she hits the uneven sand, she trips and falls over. They all have a good laugh as Sarah jogs back to offer her hand to Amy and helps her up.

After a delicious lunch of fish tacos which Amy put together, Sarah puts on one of her relaxing holiday vacation playlists as they head outside. James and Steve stay behind to clean up after the meal before joining everyone for a lazy afternoon of fun in and around the pool.

Later in the afternoon, Amy goes into the house to start dinner and Sarah joins her. As Sarah so often does when she food preps, she starts singing and swaying her hips while standing next to Amy in the kitchen. As the chorus to Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole comes up, Sarah puts her arm around Amy’s waist gently pressing their cheeks together, and holds up the peeler as if she were holding a microphone out for Amy to sing with her. Amy giggles shyly and turns away. “I have a terrible singing voice,” Amy protests.

Presently, William comes into the kitchen to get some water for the others who were still outside.

“Oh come on Amy, you’re better than you think. You don’t have to sing like Dolly Parton or Julie Andrews to have fun with it,” Sarah encourages her.

“No, really, no one wants to hear me sing,” Amy insists.

“I do. But okay, if you really don’t want to sing, come here,” Sarah says as she starts swaying her hips to the music again and takes one of Amy’s hands to lead her toward a more open space a few feet away. “I know you’re a good dancer,” Sarah says as she pulls Amy along.

“Ah, no, really, I’m not good at that kind of dancing….” Amy pulls away and Sarah releases Amy’s hand, not wanting to force Amy to do anything she doesn’t want to.

“You don’t always have to be good at something to like doing it. Come on, Amy! Dance with us!” William says. He puts down the pitcher that he was filling next to the tray full of glasses, takes Amy by the hand, and starts moving randomly, purposefully out of time with the music.

Amy giggles, loving what a free spirit William is, definitely like his mom. She humors him and starts swaying to the music, while he slows down to step in time with the music and Amy as best he can. He gradually leads them toward the more open space where Sarah has taken to dancing on her own.

“See, I told you, you can do it,” William says. “It’s fun!”

“Well, I truly couldn’t say ‘no’ to you. You’re such a little charmer, and a terrific dancer!” Amy says with a bright smile.

“My mom taught me all the moves, but mostly I just move however I want, which is what she also taught me,” William answers.

The song ends, and Para La Habana by Johannes Linstead starts playing. “Oh, Amy, you remember this song from our Miami scene?” Sarah asks. “Come on, you gotta dance with me to this one!”

“No, I have to get back to making dinner,” Amy tries to reason her way out of this one.

Suddenly, Violet’s voice pierces the room, “William, where are you? I’M THIRSTY!” Her nose is pressed into the screen door, peering in.

“Okay, Violet! You’re so bossy!” William shouts back in an exasperated voice. Then addressing Amy while he’s still holding her hand and dancing, he says, “Mom always dances and makes dinner at the same time. There’s no other way to do it.” Then he slips Amy’s hand into Sarah’s and instructs his mom, “Keep her moving. I’ll be back.”

Amy giggles as she and Sarah continue to dance to the rest of the song. Amy relaxes and thinks back to their POI days, spending so much time alone together, the two of them having fun on set between filming, or sometimes the two Texan gals simply huddled close to each other trying to stay warm during those freezing cold winter days in New York. While her mind wanders, she doesn’t realize her body is moving perfectly in sync with Sarah’s. Sarah leads them with perfection to the smooth rhythm of the Latin beat, holding Amy by the waist, her strong fingers guiding Amy’s movements while Amy lets her body melt into Sarah’s powerful yet relaxed grip.

“Yeah, Amy, work it, girl!” Sarah squeals in delight at how Amy has finally let loose.

William comes back inside toward the end of the song to get a snack for Violet, and as Amy’s thoughts come back to the present, she immediately feels embarrassed, realizing she’s dancing a bit provocatively with Sarah, at least by her standards. When she stops for a second, William says, “No, don’t stop. You look great dancing together!”

After dinner and the twins are put to bed, the rest of the gang hang out in the family room playing Trivial Pursuit. They make teams with Amy, James and William together while Sarah and Steve are with Jack and Ava. They don’t play for very long, as it is obvious that Amy will win even if they all teamed up against her.

Jack starts to get bored of the game, so he starts playing with his phone, showing something to William, and then Ava. Jack may be shy, but he loves taking photos and videos of his friends and family, especially of the candid moments. He may be too cool to admit it now that he’s a teenager, but he really loves the sweet moments in life, especially those with the family. In a way, he’s hanging onto his childhood, but doesn’t want any of his friends to know.

Eventually, the kids are totally engrossed with Jack’s phone that the adults want to see what all the commotion is about. It turns out that Jack had seen Sarah and Amy dancing earlier, and decided to take a video of it with his phone. Amy is so embarrassed that she wants to disappear, but everyone is impressed and a bit surprised that Amy isn’t always as innocent and proper as she seems. Sarah suggests that they post it online to their Instagram accounts. After a lot of encouragement from everyone, Amy eventually agrees to let Sarah post the video. She admits they do look pretty good dancing together and it would be a good way to get some extra publicity for the convention this weekend.

It’s only 9 pm but Ava and Jack disappear to their respective bedrooms to go online to chat with their friends back in LA who are up way later than they should be on a school night. Since they are on vacation for two weeks, Amy doesn’t want her kids to feel completely left out of what is going on with their friends back home so she limits them to an hour, and on only on certain days.

As usual, Sarah and Steve head upstairs first. Even though everyone has been pitching in with cleaning up after themselves and the younger ones today, Amy still likes to take a few moments to do a little bit of extra tidying up in the common areas after everyone has gone to settle in for the night. James stays back to keep Amy company and help. James has been having so much fun on the vacation so far and asks if Amy is having fun too. James notices that Amy gushes about Sarah a bit before getting into all the other things she’s been enjoying, including being around Sarah’s younger children. James agrees that the Howey kids are fun little firecrackers and that it has been so easy to get along with their entire family despite being so different from their own. He comments that the kids seem to get along so well too, like real siblings less the infighting.

When it’s time to go upstairs, James is a gentleman and waits at the base of the stairs for Amy to go first before following behind. While they are still on the stairs, suddenly, they hear Sarah yell, “Killer!” and James rushes past Amy on the stairs, ready to put up a fight and scare off intruders.

As he covers the hallway to Sarah and Steve’s room, he motions with his hand to Amy, “Baby, you get Jack and have him help get the other kids to safety. I’ll…” James trails off when he looks back at Amy who is laughing so hard, she needs to hold the bannister to keep her balance.

“James, there’s no danger in the house,” Amy manages to say before another burst of giggles. “You see, when two adults love each other, sometimes they….”

“Are you sure? That was pretty loud, even for them. I mean, I know those two are crazy, but ….” Just then, they hear wild obscenities being screamed and shouted. Sarah is definitely not shy to demand what she wants.

Amy shakes her head and playfully says, “Do you need me to draw a picture….”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” James chuckles at his own naivety as he follows Amy into their bedroom and they turn in for the night.


	4. Chapter 4

Sarah chooses to take their families surfing this morning, sure that she will be able to learn it quickly and get an awesome photo to show off on Instagram. Of course, Amy makes it look easy as she effortlessly gets up to a standing position on her first try and is even able to control her direction a little on the beginner waves even though they didn’t really teach that during the short instruction portion of the class. Sarah takes a couple of attempts to get the hang of it. Steve struggles and is just not able to get up on his board no matter how many times he tries. The older kids take several turns with varying degrees of success. When everyone has had enough, they wave for Amy to come out of the water but Amy is having too much fun to notice that everyone else is ready to leave. They like to see that Amy is finally enjoying herself so they get changed and hang around the beach until she is done.

Sarah takes a look at the pictures James was able to capture. Among Sarah’s favorites are a sweet photo of William, Jack and Ava paddling out together. There’s a hilarious shot of Steve completely wiping out the one time he was almost able to get up on his board. There were a few decent shots of her on her board, but she couldn’t help but notice that her photos didn’t look nearly as cool as Amy’s. Sarah sighs, thinking about how Amy is a natural at everything. If she weren’t so shy, she’d get a lot more work in Hollywood than she does. It’s a shame really that most of Hollywood is blind to her true talent and natural beauty. She’s glad that at least Amy gets some recognition for her work though, and that even being as quiet as Amy is, she is just too good to go completely unnoticed.

When Amy realizes everyone is on the beach waiting for her, she comes back to shore. “Sorry, I was wondering where everybody went! I thought you were all playing a trick on me again and left me here. I thought I’d make the best of it and stay here all day and then the joke would be on all of you! This is so fun, the feeling of being on top of the world, riding the waves beneath you, it’s incredible.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t know,” Steve laughs at himself.

“I’ll stay here with you, if you want. Or we can go back and I’ll come for you when you’re ready,” Sarah offers.

“No, it’s fine. I’ve had enough. It’s a family vacation! Nothing is more fun than spending my time with all of you!” Amy insists.

It’s a little too early for lunch, but everyone is hungry, so they pick up some banana bread and Maui Gold pineapple from a local café to bring back and tide them over until lunch time.

Everyone is relaxing or playing in or around the pool back at the house. The twins were a little too young to try surfing and James was more than happy to stay on the beach with them and play. Now in the pool, the twins take turns climbing on James, pretending he is their surfboard. The others splash and make waves in the water around them, cheering them on.

When Sarah and Amy have had enough of the pool, they swim to the other end away from the shade of the house, and get out to lay down on the poolside chairs next to each other to work on their tans. Sarah is happy to finally have some time to talk one-on-one with Amy, but figures they could both use a few quiet moments for themselves to reset after their active morning so she puts on her ridiculously large sunglasses and lays quietly for a couple of minutes. Amy has been laying perfectly still, and when Sarah looks over at her, Sarah thinks Amy is the most serene being she has ever seen. Amy is wearing a pair of dark sunglasses which makes it impossible to see her eyes, but Sarah knows Amy so well that she is sure Amy has fallen asleep. Sarah is a bit disappointed at having missed her chance to talk with Amy but is still happy just to be lying next to her.

After a little while, she looks over at Amy again and sees that she is getting a bit too red. As perfect and beautiful as Amy is, even she won’t be able to pull off the lobster look. Amy is glad that Sarah wakes her up, but she’s so tired and relaxed that she just takes off her sunglasses to take a quick look, then turns over onto her stomach and falls asleep again. Sarah just shakes her head and chuckles to herself that Amy can fall asleep so easily. Sarah also turns over to lay on her front and as she so often does, she unties the back of her bikini top to avoid getting a tan line on her back. As she lays there, she turns her head to the side Amy is on, not realizing how much she is letting herself watch Amy while she’s sleeping. Amy is such a natural beauty, that even while one side of her face is adorably smooshed into the towel she is laying on, Amy was still so strikingly gorgeous. Sarah is in awe of how Amy is such a perfect combination of everything that she is and so good at just about everything she does, and yet she remains kind, humble and down to earth, the quintessential girl next door. Sarah imagines, if only she was a year older or Amy was a year younger, they likely would have crossed paths while at SMU. She wonders if Amy would have noticed her back then. Maybe they would have been friends, maybe more. Sarah gets lost in these thoughts, only realizing how long she’d been staring at Amy when she starts to wake up about twenty minutes later. When Amy stirs, Sarah instinctively closes her eyes, pretending that she’s been laying down with her eyes closed the entire time.

When Amy finally groggily opens her eyes, she sees Sarah laying down next to her, face turned in her direction, but likely asleep under those big sunglasses while her body moves slightly up and down in time with her breathing. Amy can’t help drowsily letting her eyes roam all over Sarah, totally getting absorbed in the moment, appreciating the rare sight of a tranquil and completely natural Sarah laying so close next to her. Amy has had the pleasure of seeing Sarah completely makeup-free enough times by now that even with those huge sunglasses, Amy can still picture all of Sarah’s natural facial features that she finds so alluring. Of course, she has always been captivated by Sarah’s toned yet curvy figure, being both extremely feminine and muscular in all the right places. Combined with Sarah’s strong, fun-loving personality and ability to always know when to take charge, somehow, being in Sarah’s presence often brings a unique combination of comfort and contentment. Amy feels like she could lay here beside Sarah forever and forget the world.

Suddenly, Violet’s loud shrieking voice pierces through Amy’s thoughts before she has time to process what she is feeling.

“Why isn’t anyone listening to me?!” Violet is screaming and stomping her foot. “I’m starving!”

Amy sits up quickly and sees the guys are in the middle of a swimming race with Knox acting as referee. Sarah starts to retie her bikini top as Amy stands up.

Ava puts her book down and shouts across the pool to Amy, “Mom, I got her. You and Aunt Sarah just rest.”

“Thanks, Ava. You’re the best. Love you,” Amy says to her sweet daughter while sitting back down.

“I know. That’s why you stopped having more kids after me. I’m perfect!” Ava jokes. “Violet, come. I’ll get you something to eat,” Ava says while taking Violet’s hand to lead her inside the house.

“Amy, you’ve got to stop acting like you’re our short order cook. Nobody’s going to die if you don’t rush to serve everyone at their whim,” Sarah tells Amy.

“How long was I asleep? What time is it?” Amy asks, turning to look at Sarah. When Amy sees that Sarah is still adjusting her bikini top, she forces herself to look away and says, “Violet ate an entire loaf of banana bread all by herself. How can she still be hungry?”

“Actually it’s just after one o’clock,” Sarah answers.

“Oh! Why didn’t anyone wake me? I better get lunch started!” Amy says as she rushes inside the house.

“I’ll help,” Sarah says as she gets up to follow Amy.

When the ladies enter the kitchen, Violet is happily eating a slice of red pepper, sandwiched between two crackers and a slice of cheese. After seeing the large platter of cheese, crackers, veggies and fruit that Ava is putting together, Amy says, “Ava, that’s way too much! You’ll ruin her lunch.”

“I was putting this together for everyone,” Ava explains. “Besides, you should know Violet can always eat. She’ll eat more than you if she likes what’s being served. If she doesn’t eat lunch, it’s because of your cooking!” Ava laughs.

“Your cooking is wonderful, but she’s right about Violet. That girl can really pack it away when she wants to.” Sarah laughs, “Oh, and it sounds like you don’t have to worry about Ava growing up in LA.” Then putting her arm around Ava in a half hug, Sarah says, “You’re such a sweetheart but full of sass too! I know you can handle yourself out there.”

“Thanks, Aunt Sarah,” Ava says politely and with a big smile.

The rest of the gang comes in and gathers around the kitchen counter where Ava has just finished assembling the platter. They are still slightly dripping wet and Amy reaches in between them and moves the platter to the table so that she can start making lunch.

“Hey, why don’t we just all go out for lunch?” Steve suggests. “You ladies need to rest. It’ll be a busy weekend for both of you.”

“Can we go to a normal place this time?” Knox whines. “I want a hamburger, with the orange cheese, and ketchup and the bread. The bread with the little seeds on it.”

“And bacon!” Violet adds excitedly. “But a real hamburger. Not the little ones for kids.”

“Yeah. How ‘bout the Cool Cat Café? Voted Best Burger on Maui, and I think the kids will like the classic arcade game machines and the fifties diner feel to it,” James says. “We can hang out downtown at the local shops and galleries afterward until it’s time to come back.”

They’ve hired a local private chef to come to the house this evening to make them a nice dinner as this will be their last meal together before the ladies fly off to Honolulu early in the morning for the weekend convention. Everyone is just relaxing in and around the house, while Sarah and Amy pack for the weekend. When Sarah is done, she joins everyone and gets as many cuddles in with her kids as possible. Amy goes to the kitchen to help the chef as she loves to cook, and figures she will likely learn something new. With Amy being so nice and eager to learn, unlike many celebrity guests he has worked for in the past, the chef is more than happy to let her help and is impressed with her culinary skills.

After a little while, Sarah is hungry so she comes to sneak a piece of sushi, but Amy quickly tries to stop her, “Sarah, no! Not that one.”

“What, why not?” Sarah asks.

“Those are my special ones for the guys, to get back at them for yesterday,” Amy says with a grin.

“You put something in them?” Sarah asks with a chuckle, liking this fun side of Amy.

“I got Chef Saito to play along. We put Carolina Reaper peppers in those. Extremely spicy. Take one of those over there instead. Those are safe, I promise.”

“Please, I’m from Texas too, remember. I love spicy food!” Sarah scoffs as she bites into a Carolina Reaper pepper. Immediately, she regrets it and spits it out, coughing from the spicy heat, “Oh god, we got any milk or something?” Sarah chugs down an entire glass. She then smiles and shakes her finger at Amy, “That stuff burns. You’re bad.”

“I warned you,” Amy smirks.

“So what’s the exact plan?” Sarah asks, wanting in on the prank.  
At dinner, everyone sits down at the table and the chef brings out the sushi first. Although all the pieces look the same, the chef serves the spicy ones to James, Steve and Sarah, while he puts one of the spicy ones on Amy’s plate in addition to a regular piece. James pours some wine for the adults while Amy pours some sparkling water for the kids. Steve is so hungry that he scarfs down a piece of sushi before he even notices the spiciness that is now causing him some discomfort. “Wow, that’s spicy,” he says calmly, trying to hide the burning feeling inside. After a few more seconds as his nose starts to drip and his eyes water, along with a coughing fit, he runs to the kitchen to get some milk that will hopefully give his burning insides some relief. When he comes back, still coughing and his mouth, throat and stomach still burning, he warns the kids, “Don’t eat that, kids. It’s too spicy for you.”

“No it’s not,” Violet says as she pops a second piece of sushi into her mouth. “I love peppers! They should be in everything,” smacking her lips as she purposefully chews with her mouth open.

“Peppers are yucky! Mommy, can you take them out for me? Please?” Knox asks with his best sad puppy dog eyes.

“Okay Bluey, just this one time,” Sarah says obligingly, not wanting the night to end in a power struggle and tears, knowing that it will already be tough not to see each other for a few days after tonight.

“Steve can’t take the heat, huh?” James laughs as he sits down. “I love spicy food. Bet I can eat the spiciest food out of all of us here,” he brags while putting a good amount of wasabi on his sushi before putting it in his mouth. Once he bites into the pepper, he can’t help but start coughing too.

“Are you okay?” Amy asks.

“I’m fine,” James fakes a smile, trying to pretend he is alright by continuing to chew and swallow, but the burning sensation in his mouth and throat intensifies, now turning him red in the face and neck, as he starts to hack uncontrollably before running to the kitchen for a glass of milk to help neutralize the pain.

“Wow, what’s in that sushi?” James says, sitting back down at the table, still coughing between taking sips of milk. “I don’t think it’s supposed to be that fiery.”

“Maybe you overdid it with the wasabi,” Amy says innocently as finishes her first piece. “It’s got quite a kick to it but tastes fine to me. Here, try mine,” Amy says as she picks up the spicy sushi roll off her plate and feeds it to James.

As James chews, he again bites into a piece of Carolina Reaper pepper and spits it out immediately this time, another coughing fit coming on. He now suspects Amy is behind this since he can normally eat foods with way more heat than even she can. He starts sweating, and his eyes and nose start to water and drip. “Is this some sort of joke? What did you put in it?” James manages to say.

“Saito-san, what’s in the sushi?” Amy asks the chef, keeping a straight face before putting a piece of ginger in her mouth to clean her palate.

“Oh, it’s my specialty. There’s supposed to be a bit of heat in it. Brings out the taste of the fresh fish really well,” the chef responds as he puts a platter of sashimi on the table.

“Yeah, well, it’ll bring out my insides pretty well too,” James says, now hunched over, still suffering.

“Don’t be so dramatic, James,” Amy says as she picks up a piece of sashimi from the serving platter. After putting a small amount of wasabi on top with her chopsticks, she places it delicately into her mouth, closing her eyes to concentrate on her other senses. “Mmm, you really can taste how fresh the fish is. It’s amazing Saito-san.” While she picks up another piece of sashimi from the platter, she says, “Are we sure it’s not still alive?” as she pretends that the piece of sashimi is swimming towards her plate.

“You’re such a dork, Mom,” Ava snorts.

“What about you Sarah, how’s yours?” Steve asks, wincing in pain.

“Haven’t tried yet. Been tending to the kids. It’s hard to keep up when it’s one on three,” Sarah says, acting annoyed, making it sound like she’s scolding Steve for not helping.

“You’re in on it too, aren’t you?” James says to Sarah.

“Seriously, Amy, what did you put in our food? It’s killing my stomach. Is this some sort of payback for yesterday?” Steve asks.

“What? No!” Amy says convincingly.

“Well, even if it was, it serves you guys right,” Sarah says. “If you guys did that to me, Steve, I’d send you back to LA alone with the kids while I stayed here. And James would have to sleep with one eye open the whole rest of the trip.”

Amy’s voice sounds so small when she says, “I’m hurt that you all think I’m so petty,” while her eyes redden and start to water. She looks away quickly with a small sob that she’s trying to mask as a deep breath.

“Come on Baby, I’m sorry,” James tries to put an arm around Amy while he’s still half doubled-over in his chair. “Maybe I just ate something else today that’s throwing off my senses. Don’t cry.”

“Yeah Amy, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Steve says. “I guess I can’t eat as spicy as I thought. I shouldn’t have blamed you.”

Amy takes a deep breath before she is able to speak again, “I hired a private chef to come cook for us so we could enjoy one last big meal together before Sarah and I have to fly out for the weekend. I thought it’d be nice to avoid the stress of cooking and cleaning up tonight so we could spend more time together, and now everything’s just ruined,” Amy says, through small sobs. “I just want everyone to be happy, but I guess that’s too much to ask.” Amy uses her napkin to pat her eyes, shakes off James’ arm and slowly gets up from her chair.

“Baby, everything will be okay…” James says meekly as he stands up to hold Amy and keep her from leaving the table. He feels like a real shithead to make his sweet angel cry, especially in front of everybody.

“Amy, nothing’s ruined,” Steve insists. Feeling awful for making Amy cry, he’s desperate to do anything to make her feel better. “Here, I’ll even eat the ones on Sarah’s plate. Now that I know how spicy it is, I’ll be prepared for the heat this time. Just stay. We can still have a great time.”

Amy sits back down, still holding the napkin, occasionally dabbing at her eyes or nose.

Steve is a man of his word, so he picks up a piece of sushi off Sarah’s plate with his chopsticks, braces himself, and just when he is about to put it in his mouth, Sarah can’t help but break out in one of her big, raw laughs. “I’m sorry, Amy, how are you able to keep a straight face! You saw what happened the first time. Have a little mercy on these big babies.”

“Okay, you’ve gone far enough,” Amy says, a smirk turning into a shy giggle as she folds her napkin and places it back down on her lap.

“What?! You’ve been playing us all along?” Steve shakes his head sheepishly. While Steve and James had initially suspected Amy was the culprit, they were fooled by Amy’s little act. “The whole acting casual, and then that crying thing…oh, you’re good. Someone give this woman an Emmy already!”

“Hey, wait, I got burned twice! That’s not fair!” James protests.

Everyone has a good laugh and the mood returns to the usual lightheartedness.

After putting the Howey kids to bed, the guys turn in early for the night as they will need all the energy they can get for the next three days. Ava and Jack go to bed as well since they are tired after a morning of surfing and being in the sun all day. Sarah and Amy pack some last minute things and when they are both done, they decide to relax together out on the lanai and finish what was left of the bottle of wine from dinner.

At first, they sit quietly sipping wine, happy to be in each other’s company without feeling the need to fill the silence with tiresome small talk. After they are done the wine, Sarah breaks the silence, thinking back on dinner. “Hey Amy, sorry for giving you away earlier and spoiling your fun. If you hadn’t let me in on your little plan, I totally would have bought it!”

“That’s okay. I just wanted to show y’all I can be mischievous too,” Amy says with a silly grin and giggle, patting the back of Sarah’s hand playfully and then leaving it there.

“Y’all? I love it when you use your Texan accent.” Then clasping her other hand on top of Amy’s for a moment, Sarah adds, “You just need to relax a bit more and not worry about taking care of everyone all the time. That’s all. I promise not to let the guys keep messing with you too much.”

“My protector,” Amy leans in with a coy smile.

“Always,” Sarah chuckles, and as much as she wants to wrap Amy in her arms and hold her, she reminds herself that Amy is just having fun teasing her, and that they are just good friends.

They fall in comfortable silence again, letting the sound of the ocean waves crashing on the beach surround them. When Amy catches herself stroking Sarah’s hand with her fingers, only now realizing her hand had been resting on Sarah’s all this time, she is embarrassed and quickly gets up to take both their empty wine glasses back inside. She’s looking down and forgets to open the sliding glass door as her forehead bangs into the glass. “Ow,” Amy whimpers softly.

“Oh my god, Amy! Are you okay?” Sarah asks, jumping out of her chair and taking the wine glasses from Amy while helping her to sit down. “Here, lay back in the chair so I can get a better look,” Sarah says, as she leans over Amy. “I don’t see a bump, so that’s good. It is a bit red though. Does it hurt when I touch you here?” Sarah asks, while cradling the side of Amy’s head and running her thumb over the injured spot.

“Just a little. I’ll probably be fine in a minute. It’s not the first time I’ve done something like this and it won’t be the last, unfortunately,” Amy says, trying to laugh at herself.

“Oh Amy, my peach, you are so clumsy. No one would ever guess by how graceful you look,” Sarah says. Running her hand along Amy’s jawline, Sarah kisses Amy on the forehead. Sarah then instinctively takes one of Amy’s hands in hers and rests it in Amy’s lap.

Amy looks up at Sarah, not sure what to make, if anything, of Sarah calling her ‘my peach’, and holding her face so close. Their eyes meet and Amy doesn’t know why but she feels her heart beating a little fast. The kiss on the forehead may not be totally unusual as the ladies have kissed on the cheek before, but usually only when saying goodbye after a convention or other event where they won’t be seeing each other for a while. Sarah is a very good friend, while not Amy’s best friend, somehow, Amy feels a special but different kind of connection with Sarah. The way Sarah is holding her hand now intensifies that type of affection that she can’t quite describe. It is not like when one is falling in love and gets butterflies in the stomach. And not like how she feels with James whom she loves even more now than the day they were married. She continues to stare into Sarah’s eyes, trying to understand how or why Sarah is extra special to her.

Sarah looks intently at Amy who is even more breathtaking from so up close. She thinks she sees signs that Amy is indeed attracted to her, but she admits she may just be seeing what she wants to see and not what is actually there, or rather, not there. After another long moment, she notices the confusion in Amy’s eyes. She then realizes what she had done and what she had called her friend. Sarah breaks the mutual gaze, pats Amy’s hand before releasing it, and stands up. “Goodnight, Amy,” she says before opening the door and going inside, leaving it open for Amy.

Amy lingers for a minute, her thoughts a bit muddled. Then noticing the time, she picks up the two empty wine glasses and heads inside.

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

Amy and Sarah had requested rooms next to each other so after checking in to their hotel rooms, they open their adjoining room doors so they can talk while getting ready for the convention. They have a quick brunch together at the hotel restaurant before heading over to the convention center.

Their Friday afternoon schedules are busy, both Sarah and Amy doing autograph signings and photo ops with some short breaks in between. In addition, Sarah has a cast panel to promote her new show, Reverie, from 4 -5pm. Amy wraps up at around 4:30 pm so she heads to her hotel room for some rest before hopefully meeting up with Sarah for dinner. She takes a short nap, setting her alarm to wake her up at 5 pm, when Sarah’s is supposed to be done for the day.

After the Reverie panel, the cast stays back to meet and chat with some of the fans as well as do some additional photo ops. Amy waits expectantly for Sarah to return to the hotel room, but by 5:45 pm when Sarah still isn’t back, Amy calls Sarah. She doesn’t leave a message though, thinking Sarah will likely be back soon anyway. She decides to take a shower and freshen up so that she will be ready to go as soon as Sarah gets back.

Sarah is still caught up with her Reverie cast mates and various fans, and doesn’t hear Amy’s phone call. They actually don’t finish until closer to 6 pm, so they head directly to dinner after they wrap up. Sarah calls Amy as they set out to the restaurant with intentions to invite her along, but when Amy doesn’t answer her phone, she figures Amy likely made her own plans by now so she doesn’t leave a message, especially since her kids are calling for a video chat as she ends her call to Amy. The kids talk excitedly to their mom about all of the day’s events. They even show her a picture of an impressive sand castle that they all built together. While Sarah and her kids are saying their long drawn out goodbyes, Sarah’s phone battery drains completely.

After her shower, and re-doing her makeup, Amy comes out of the bathroom and realizes she missed a call from Sarah. She calls back but Sarah doesn’t pick up so Amy leaves a quick message, “Hey Sarah, it’s me, Amy. Just wanted to see what your dinner plans were. Call me back, okay? Thanks.”

It’s 7 pm now and Amy is pretty sure that if Sarah was coming back before dinner that she would have arrived by now, so Amy tries calling one more time, hoping she can meet Sarah wherever she is and tag along on her evening plans. When Sarah still doesn’t pick up, Amy doesn’t leave another message.

Amy doesn’t know why, but she suddenly feels sad, so sad that she feels like crying. She was looking forward to hanging out with Sarah all evening, finally without the kids and/or the guys around. She also feels a little foolish now for being presumptuous, thinking Sarah would spend all her free time with her. In addition to the deep disappointment, Amy is also feeling a little lonely. They actually hadn’t talked about dinner plans, and Sarah was very social with everyone, so Amy should have known better than to expect Sarah not to spend time with other people. Amy doesn’t know why she feels hurt though. They are just friends, and there is no obligation for Sarah to inform Amy of her whereabouts and plans at all times.

Amy doesn’t feel like going out anymore and she isn’t that hungry, but she knows she has to eat to keep up her energy for the weekend. She orders in some mango crab rolls and calls James to check up on the kids. They are in the middle of dinner and James is helping to keep one of the younger kids from wandering away from the table at the restaurant, so their conversation is cut short. Amy is mad at herself for wasting an entire evening by not asking Sarah earlier about her plans. Since they were pretty much inseparable this whole last week, she hadn’t thought that Sarah would have other plans that didn’t include her.

When Amy finishes eating what she can, she decides to sit out on the balcony and read a book, but she can’t concentrate. She is still stewing away, getting more upset. She wants nothing more right now than to be spending time with Sarah. Sarah is popular, outgoing, beautiful and amazing. She wonders what Sarah is doing right now, and who is lucky enough to be in her current company. She is kind of jealous, something she doesn’t often feel, and she knows in her mind that it is totally ridiculous to feel that way. Sarah isn’t hers. They are just friends. Even if she was hers, she wouldn’t expect to be joined at the hip, nor demand to know where Sarah was at all times. Amy knows Sarah would never do anything that she knew would hurt her. But still, Amy can’t help but feel the way she does.

She gives up on reading, and decides to watch some TV instead. As she is flipping through the channels, she comes across an episode of The L Word. Knowing that Sarah had played Carmen for a couple of seasons on that show, Amy decides to watch and see what the show is all about. She missed almost fifteen minutes already, but when she finally sees Sarah onscreen, she can’t help but study young Sarah in a really short pair of red shorts and a white tank top. Carmen and Shane start playing a game called “too hot” and Amy really lets herself get sucked in. She finds it a bit torturous to watch them make out for so long while trying to refrain from touching each other, certain that if it were her, she’d have lasted only a few seconds before instinctively biting Sarah, grabbing her ass and more. She’d then happily let Sarah have her way with her.

After the scene ends, Amy suddenly realizes what she’s been thinking during the entire Shane and Carmen scene, but tries to chalk it up to Sarah’s great acting skills. Before shooting their first kissing scene together for Person of Interest, Amy had been a bit nervous as it was her first time ever to kiss a woman. Sarah had reassured Amy that she was in good hands. Not only had Sarah been in The L Word and done many female on female kissing and sex scenes, but she even confided in Amy that she had some experience sleeping with other women and that she had experimented sometime while at SMU. Amy wonders if they have ever crossed paths in the past, even if just walking past each other without knowing at the time. There was that time that Amy had returned to SMU to visit her professors shortly after her multi episode guest role on season two of Angel before she was made a series regular for season three. Sarah would have been studying at SMU at the time, so it was possible, although unlikely. Amy wonders if Sarah would have tried to hit on her.

Her thoughts are then taken back to the present as Sarah comes back onscreen. This time she’s lying in bed and asking Shane questions. As the scene unfolds, Amy can’t help but notice the perfection of Sarah’s round, succulent breasts that are partially visible, and she pictures how amazing the rest of Sarah must look underneath that bedsheet. Just then, Sarah slips out from under the bedsheet to get dressed and Amy doesn’t have to use her imagination anymore as she is treated to a momentary view of Sarah completely topless, followed by a shot of Sarah’s nipples protruding underneath the white tank top that she puts on. Amy bites her bottom lip and her breathing is a little heavy as she feels heat pooling in her core. She crosses one leg over the other, but that just adds to the tension in her body and makes her even more hot, so she gets up to turn off the TV and decides to turn in for the night.

She picks up the tray holding the remnants of her half-eaten dinner and takes it outside of her room, leaving it in the hall just outside her door for the staff to take away. After brushing her teeth and finishing her nighttime routine, she sees that Sarah is still yet to come back. Amy’s sad feelings come rushing back, even stronger than before, this time feeling like heartbreak, as tears well up in her eyes at the thought that Sarah is still out having fun with someone else. Amy could no longer deny that her feelings for Sarah were more than that of just good friends, even friends with whom you feel a particularly special bond with. With Sarah, it’s more than that. She has always felt so connected to Sarah emotionally, but Amy hadn’t realized until now that she is also sexually attracted to her. She now recognizes that those feelings go beyond what she had previously thought was just deep admiration. She has romantic feelings towards Sarah. No, that’s not quite it either. What she feels is stronger than that. She loves Sarah, probably has for a long time, and is only now realizing that what she wants is actually more than just friendship, more than the special bond they already have.

The sadness that Amy feels from knowing that she will never be able to have that type of relationship with Sarah as well as the guilt she has about those feelings when she still loves James so much is confusing and overwhelming her. Amy doesn’t want this vacation to end, and go back to seeing Sarah only sporadically once they are all back in LA living their own separate busy lives. Her realization that they only have another week on vacation together made her even more sad as the time their families are spending together will inevitably come to an end. Even if she can’t be in a relationship with Sarah, this way she at least gets to be around her so much of the time. While she wants more with Sarah, she doesn’t think she could give up the life she’s built with James. She loves him so much and cheating on him would be out of the question. Furthermore, while she’s certain that Sarah also feels the special bond between them, she isn’t sure that Sarah feels anything beyond a platonic friendship. Besides, Sarah already has such an awesome family of her own and there couldn’t be a more perfect husband for her than Steve. She couldn’t expect Sarah to change her life with Steve even if Sarah somehow did miraculously reciprocate her feelings. Amy is so conflicted, wanting to change things, while at the same time wanting to keep them the same. Hoping that a good night’s sleep will help clear her head, Amy gets into bed and turns off the lamp on her nightstand. Noticing the stream of dim light coming from Sarah’s adjoining hotel room, Amy turns the light back on and gets up to close the adjoining door. Just as Amy’s side of the adjoining room doors is closing, Sarah enters her hotel room and gets a glimpse of Amy’s tear soaked face.

“Hey, Amy, what’s wrong?” Sarah asks as she rushes to the adjoining doorway, her happy mood immediately changing to one of concern for her friend. Amy tries to close the door without answering, pretending not to notice Sarah’s return. Sarah sticks her foot in the doorway just in time to keep Amy from completely shutting the door, but because Sarah had already kicked off her shoe when she entered, it hurt her foot. “Ow. What’s going with you?” Sarah demands to know as she pushes the adjoining door open.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see your foot. Do you need ice or something?” Amy asks, nervously looking away from Sarah and wiping her face with her hands while looking for the ice bucket. “I can go get you some,” Amy says in a shaky voice.

“Amy, I’m okay. It’s not that bad,” Sarah says as she grabs Amy’s wrist firmly, trying to turn her friend around so she can see her face. “Come on, tell me what’s wrong? What happened?”

Amy tries to shake Sarah’s hand off her wrist as she says, “Nothing. Nothing happened, okay?” The words had come out more angry-sounding than she had intended.

“You’re obviously upset. Is everything alright between you and James?” Sarah asks, assuming it must be something serious since she has never seen Amy so upset. It pains her to think anyone could have been unkind to Amy, let alone cause her such anguish.

“No, things couldn’t be more perfect between us,” Amy says with a big exhale followed by a small sob.

“Are the kids alright then?” Sarah says.

“They’re all fine,” Amy says curtly.

“Okay, but you aren’t. Did I do something?” Sarah asks. By now she’s pretty sure it has something to do with her based on the way Amy is acting.

“No, you didn’t do anything. I don’t even know why I’m upset.” Then, trying to return to her normal soft-spoken manner, Amy says, “There’s no good reason I should be.”

“Sometimes we can’t help feeling something even if we know we shouldn’t. Just tell me Amy. You can tell me anything,” Sarah says, trying to comfort her friend.

“I…I can’t tell you because I don’t know. I don’t know what I want, if I even want anything,” Amy says, her frustration resurfaces.

“Hey, come here,” Sarah says, hugging Amy and stroking her back with one hand as Amy hides her face in Sarah’s shoulder, letting the tears flow freely now.

With Sarah holding her like this, Amy feels her own heart racing, wanting to bury herself in Sarah and never have to face the outside world ever again, one that she fears is now changed forever whether she wants it or not.

Sarah holds Amy without talking, without judgment, and lets Amy hang onto her as long as she needs. It makes Sarah’s heart ache to see Amy so upset, and all she wants to do is make Amy’s troubles go away. She turns her head and kisses the side of Amy’s head, her lips making contact with Amy behind the ear, close to her neck. She holds Amy tighter, letting Amy know that she isn’t going anywhere as long as Amy wants her to stay.

Amy feels her sorrow and anger melt away. Somehow, being with Sarah, being held by her, kissed by her, makes Amy feel like everything will be alright. Amy eventually regains her composure and breaks from Sarah’s embrace, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“Amy, there’s nothing you can say or do that would change the way I feel about you,” Sarah tries to reassure Amy. “Please Amy, let me help you. Whatever you need. I mean it.” Sarah cradles Amy’s chin with one hand and uses the other hand to wipe away the stream of tears that had rolled down Amy’s cheeks.

“Maybe tomorrow. Right now I just want to go to bed. Maybe I just need a good night’s sleep to clear my head,” Amy says.

“Okay. After the convention tomorrow, we’ll hang out, just you and me,” Sarah says as she wraps her hand around Amy’s wrist, not quite wanting to let her go.

“Sure, I’d like that,” Amy replies meekly.

“Good, it’s a date then,” Sarah tries to lighten the mood with a wink, to which Amy can’t help but let out a small chuckle. “Oh, I almost forgot, can I borrow your charger? My phone died a bit after I tried calling you back and I think I left my charger back at the beach house.”

Amy hands Sarah her charger. Now she feels even more ridiculous, knowing that Sarah wasn’t being inconsiderate and ignoring her on purpose this evening. Even if Sarah could have called her from a cast mate’s phone, she couldn’t expect Sarah to know her phone number by heart. No one remembers phone numbers nowadays, except maybe one or two in case of emergencies. Amy is a bit old-fashioned in some ways, and is probably one of very few people who still commit to memory the phone numbers of all those near and dear.

“Just remember, Amy, my sweet, I’m always here for you, always will be,” Sarah says as she gives Amy one last quick hug.

“Thanks, Hun. Goodnight,” Amy says.

“Night,” Sarah says as she goes back to her room to get ready for bed and they both close their adjoining room doors.

As Sarah closes the door on her side, she feels a little uneasy leaving Amy alone when she is still upset. If there isn’t anything wrong with James or the kids, why is Amy so upset? Sarah had seen Amy earlier in the day from across the large room after finishing her autograph session just before her Reverie cast panel, and Amy had seemed fine then. Did something happen this evening? Who had Amy been with who could upset her so much? Then, she realized Amy must have been here in her hotel room all alone the entire evening, which would have explained the barely eaten meal left just outside Amy’s door. Feeling like a horrible friend for having left Amy behind, and for not even realizing it until now, Sarah immediately wants to apologize to Amy and ask her if that is why she is upset and how to make it up to her. Sarah opens her side of the adjoining door and is about to knock on Amy’s, but hesitates. It occurs to Sarah that it may be presumptuous to think her actions could have such an effect on Amy. Also, Sarah wants to respect Amy’s wishes to be left alone for the night, so despite the nagging feeling of guilt that Sarah is feeling, she again closes her adjoining door and turns in for the night.

It is hard, but when Amy finally manages to fall asleep, her subconscious mind takes her back to her visit at SMU, only some things were different this time. After thanking her most beloved professors at SMU for being part of the reason for her small early successes, she bumps into a friend of one of her sisters who invites her to the regular weekly Buffy watch party on campus which continued after Amy graduated not too long ago. When they arrive, Sarah is there among many fresh faces, but there are a few older students that were a couple of years behind her in the program that she recognized vaguely. During the first commercial break, the friend is busy arguing with her boyfriend over the phone and Sarah strikes up a conversation with Amy about the Buffy spin off, Angel, which she loves even more than Buffy. The friend apologizes that she has to go, and Sarah moves to the now vacated seat next to Amy and they converse some more during each commercial break. During the last break, Sarah says, “You know, you look a lot like that physicist girl that was on a few recent episodes, the one who got stuck in the demon dimension, Winnifred Burkle. Put on a potato sack and a Texan accent and you could be her twin.”

“I wish I was that smart. I mean I’m not a flake, but I’m no physicist either,” Amy says shyly.

“She was so good. I hope they make her a regular for next season. She’s smart, shy, cute and a bit crazy, just my type,” Sarah says before letting out a snorting laugh.

“Sarah, are you still going on about the potato sack girl?” one of Sarah’s friends overhear and interrupt their conversation. “You’re dreaming if you think you’ll ever sack her.”

“Actually, I said I’d ‘unsack’ her if I ever got the chance,” Sarah corrected her friend, and her friend just rolls her eyes and goes back to the group conversation she was having.

The next thing Amy knows, she’s in Sarah’s dorm room, making out with her. They both run their hands all over each other and slowly undress. Amy then tangles her fingers in Sarah’s thick luscious hair and pulls just a little before sinking her teeth into Sarah’s neck. They move toward the small bed and Amy pushes Sarah down onto it before straddling her. As Amy goes in for another rough kiss….

Amy wakes up, feeling very warm and pent up from her dream. She tries to fall back asleep right away, but can’t. She considers pleasuring herself since she’s already most of the way to climax and it would probably only take another minute or so, but then she thinks how guilty she would feel about doing that. It would feel like she is betraying James by purposefully thinking of someone else sexually, and it would also feel very disrespectful to Sarah as Amy cares deeply for her and doesn’t want to use her in a sexual fantasy. Instead, Amy gets up to get a drink of water to cool herself down.

She lays back down and tries to sleep, but her conflicting thoughts and feelings keep her up a little while longer. Desperate to get some more shuteye before facing a full second day at the convention, she lets herself think about how calming it was to be held by Sarah, how all the confusing thoughts spinning through her head seemed to slow, how safe it felt to be in Sarah’s arms. With that, Amy soon drifted off into a much more restful sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

  
Sarah is anxious to talk to Amy as soon as she gets up, but when she opens her adjoining door, Amy’s side is still closed. She can hear Amy shuffling about in her room as she gets herself ready for the second day of the convention, and Sarah thinks about knocking but again hesitates, not wanting to bother Amy first thing in the morning if she wasn’t ready to talk yet. With a sigh, Sarah leaves her side of the door open and goes to prepare herself for the day. She makes extra noise getting ready, hoping Amy would eventually hear that she’s awake and open the door so they could get ready together. That was the point of getting the adjoining rooms in the first place.

Unbeknownst to Sarah, Amy got up super early and already finished a morning session of yoga. After the session, one of the participants recognized Amy from when she guest starred on her show a few years ago and invited Amy to breakfast. Amy had just come back to change quickly and do her make up before reconvening in the hotel lobby. Although Amy is glad for the opportunity to avoid Sarah this morning, she doesn’t want to be completely inconsiderate so she opens her side of the adjoining door and says a quick hello to Sarah and confirms their evening plans before leaving.

Sarah tries to hide her disappointment that Amy had made plans with someone else for breakfast, and doesn’t admit it but is jealous. If she could have gotten ready in a couple of minutes, she would have invited herself along to breakfast. While she wishes she could talk to Amy alone about what was bothering her last night, she would have rather tagged along at breakfast just to be able to spend time with her than to know Amy is spending one on one time with someone else. It is silly to feel that way, but she still can’t help it. At least they will meet back at the hotel for 5 pm, so they will have the entire evening together, just the two of them.

Throughout the day, Amy always gives her best to her many fans as she meets with each one, chatting with all of them and charming most of them as well. She loves her fans and really tries hard to show her appreciation to each individual. However, a part of her feels unlike herself, perhaps pensive. She had gotten up early for yoga as it was always a good way to calm herself for a long, hard day ahead, and while it helped, she still couldn’t avoid thinking of Sarah between each fan autograph or photo op, even if only for a second or two.

During her breaks, Amy walks around aimlessly and finds herself inevitably thinking about Sarah. Amy is wondering, is she really in love with Sarah? Has she built Sarah up in her head and put her on a pedestal as the ideal woman instead of what Sarah is in reality? No, Sarah is exactly what she wants. But Amy doesn’t remember feeling like this whenever she had fallen in love with someone new in the past. With Sarah, she doesn’t feel the intense infatuation that always eventually subsides, but rather, feels an all-encompassing love for Sarah that seems to grow stronger every time they see each other. And there’s no fear of the unknown, of not knowing if the person is who they seem to be, of whether they would hurt her.

She has known Sarah for a long time, and gotten to know her through and through during the countless hours on set between shooting scenes for Person of Interest. Amy has shared more personal stories and private thoughts with Sarah than with anyone, including some really embarrassing ones. Amy normally is quite a quiet and private person, but with Sarah, she feels safe to share. In fact, she’s happy to share. Sarah is never offended or appalled, but rather, very accepting, and always supportive. Sarah shares a lot about herself with Amy too. Sometimes they feel like they couldn’t be more similar and can therefore understand each other better than anyone, while they are totally different in other ways, which fosters their deep mutual respect and admiration. There have been so many times it felt so nice simply to have someone to cuddle tight with, and Sarah who was also from Texas could understand just how cold and harsh the New York winters felt to her. Being with Sarah was so warm and comforting that Amy often fell asleep while sitting and huddling in close during those times. It almost feels like they could have been in love this entire time, if only Sarah felt the same.

She thinks over what she’s going to say when they finally will have time to really talk. Should she confess her true feelings to Sarah, or should she keep them to herself? She feels guilty and thinks about how James would feel about all of this. She vows not to actually do anything with Sarah until she can at least talk with James about this. Amy could never cheat on James and hurt him like that.

Amy also doesn’t want to ruin whatever it is that she and Sarah already have, but at the same time, she feels like Sarah would understand and not judge her for her feelings. Amy’s emotions have become so strong that she doesn’t think she can keep them to herself much longer even if she tries. She decides that it is better to tell Sarah soon, before she ends up doing or saying something stupid at the wrong time which would just make things harder. She doesn’t know what she’s expecting Sarah to say, or what will happen, but either way, Amy decides she will tell Sarah tonight. Amy is so excited and happy about realizing her feelings for Sarah that it feels like her heart is bursting from all the warmth within it, but she is a bit nervous. She has never in her entire life been the first one to tell someone she loved them as she was always way too shy to do that. She always waited for the other person to say it first. But she somehow will find the courage within herself to tell Sarah this time. She likes that it will be another first of hers that she will get to share with Sarah. Sarah was already Amy’s first female kiss, first person with whom Amy felt fully seen and heard, first female sex scene partner, and first…oh so many things! Amy was confident that no matter what Sarah might say or how she may react, Sarah would handle it respectfully and never leave Amy feeling totally ashamed and humiliated.

Just then, Amy sees Sarah walking with the rest of the Reverie cast, and Sarah stops briefly and clutches Amy’s wrist. “Hey, my love, you alright?” Sarah asks.

“Yes, I’m fine now,” Amy responds with a bright smile and Sarah feels like the space around them just lit up a few hundred watts. “We’ll talk tonight. You better get going,” Amy signals with her eyes and a slight turn of her head to the rest of Sarah’s cast mates who are on their way to the cast panel.

“I’m glad. I’ll see you tonight,” Sarah returns an equally wide smile, glad that Amy is back to her happy self again, or rather, even happier than her usual self, Sarah thinks. Sarah awkwardly lingers a moment longer, “I guess I should catch up with the others now,” Sarah says, slowly turning and taking a step towards them before reluctantly letting go of Amy’s wrist.

After dinner, they return to the hotel. Sarah opens the door to her room, “Ladies first,” she motions for Amy to enter through her room. Amy walks in and starts to take off her shoes so as not to track outside dirt into Sarah’s room. She nearly falls over, and of course, Sarah is there to catch her. “Amy, you can just walk through with them on, I don’t mind.”

“But if you walk around with bare feet, you’ll get dirty, even after a shower,” Amy says, always trying to be considerate of others.

“Please, Amy, I’ve been dirtier in the shower,” Sarah smirks, enjoying Amy’s sudden blushing and shy giggle in reaction to her dirty joke. Sarah kicks off her pumps, takes off her blazer that she throws onto the bed, and starts undoing her hair and shaking it out. Amy wets her lips when she notices that Sarah is not wearing a bra under her top, and she decides to have a bit of fun. When Sarah looks up at Amy who hasn’t moved from where she had been standing, she sucks in a deep breath when she sees that Amy has put on her flirty Root persona.

“Oh, sweetie, you just couldn’t wait to give me a show, huh?” Amy says with a tilt of her head and a spring in her step as she draws closer to Sarah.

Sarah tries to put on her best Shaw, “This is my room, remember. What are you still doing here?”

As Amy tucks some stray strands of hair behind Sarah’s ear, Sarah grabs Amy’s wrist, and pushes her up against the closest wall, pinning Amy’s hands above her head. Because of the height differential, Sarah is standing so close that her breasts are slightly pressing into Amy’s. Sarah challenges Amy to break free, but it’s clear that Sarah is the stronger one of the two. In fact, Sarah is actually as physically strong as her character Shaw, and Amy exerts herself but knows her attempts to break free from Sarah are futile. Finally, Sarah playfully throws Amy onto the bed right next to them before lazily flopping onto it next to Amy.

“Darlin’ that’s no way to treat a lady,” Amy giggles, finally fully breaking character.

“Darlin’?” Sarah laughs. “What’s with all the endearing nicknames?”

“You started it!” Amy protests.

“No I didn’t!” Sarah objects.

“Just the other day, you called me your ‘peach’, and then last night, your ‘sweet’. And earlier today… do you remember what you called me?” Amy is a little unsure if she should repeat that one.

“My love,” Sarah says, unashamed to repeat it. “Well, what should I call you then?”

“Whatever you want, sweetheart,” Amy says impishly.

“Sweetheart? Oh, alright.” Sarah pretends to grudgingly accept the new moniker. “I’ll think of something.”

They both get off the bed and Amy goes to her room through the adjoining doorway. They chat about the day’s events while they change and get more comfortable. Amy mentions that one super fan named Mary from Texas flew all the way here just to see her since Amy isn’t scheduled to be at the Dallas Fan Expo this year. Amy had taken an extra minute to make a little video greeting to all the members of the Facebook fan page that Mary administrates called ‘Amy Acker (All Acker all the time)’. Amy has actually heard of the Facebook group before from several fans all over the world, and it was nice to finally meet the person behind it. Mary had mentioned she was a big fan of Sarah’s too, so Amy was wondering if Sarah had met her as well.

“Oh, you mean that sweet, short, funny, crazy woman? She’s a riot! You know, she told me she and a friend are writing a Shacker fan fic together. Not Root and Shaw, but you and me.” Then with her booming laugh, Sarah says “Haha! I wonder what crazy things they have us doing.”

“That reminds me, I got a lot of Root and Shaw fan art! Wanna see?” Amy asks. “They’re amazing. I’m just going to make some herbal tea, and we can look at them together,” she says as she turns on the TV for the local news and weather forecast for tomorrow.

They sit down on Amy’s bed and lean against the headboard with the fan art spread out in front of them. There are so many awesome works. Many of them are of just Amy and various characters that she has played, but about half of them are Root and Shaw pieces. There are a handful that reference “brunch” and the women think back and discuss many of the moments from that fun Shoot panel they did together. When they are done, Amy puts the fan art neatly away, careful not to crush or bend any of them.

“I know what I’ll call you. My sweet and succulent peach, since kissing you is like biting into the most succulent peach. It’s sweet and juicy, and… a little bit wet,” Sarah says, laughing as she remembers her answer to one of the fan questions about what it is like to kiss Amy.

Amy giggles and blushes. Then she lets out a big sigh. Now is probably the time to confess. She sits down in front of Sarah, crossing one leg under the other that hangs off the side of the bed. “Sarah, I have to tell you something. I don’t want to ruin our friendship, or make things awkward between us,” Amy says. “But I don’t think I can’t keep this to myself anymore. I just want you to know.”

Sarah nods silently, waiting for Amy to continue.

“The truth is, kissing you is amazing, and…,” Amy lets out another sigh. “And…I want to do more than just kiss you. But I can’t.” She’s happy to get it off her chest, but now she has forgotten all the things she had planned to say and her thoughts are all jumbled up. “I shouldn’t be feeling like this. It’s not right,” she says, looking forlorn.

“Because you love James,” Sarah says, understanding that her marriage is something that Amy could never throw away.

“Yes, I love James so much,” Amy says. After a pause, she looks away, feeling flustered, “And then there’s you. It’s not like you’re available. You like teasing because of Root and Shaw, but you make me feel and think things I didn’t know were possible. You do things to me… emotionally, mentally, and…sexually.” Amy subconsciously bunches up the bedsheet in her fist, gripping tightly as she continues, “It’s like I’ve been in love with you the entire time we’ve known each other and I just didn’t recognize it until now.” Amy buries her face in her hands, letting her emotions get the better of her. She hadn’t planned on being quite so direct. “I’m sorry, this is probably too much. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. I just…I don’t know….” Amy gets up from the bed and turns away from Sarah.

Sarah takes hold of Amy’s wrist as she stands up and then pulls her in for a tight hug, melding their bodies together. “Oh Amy, don’t be sorry.” Sarah loosens the embrace just a little so that they can face each other. “I’ve loved you from the moment we met. I’ve been trying to hide it for a long time now, because I know you’re with James, but….”

“You…love me?” Amy asks, wanting to be sure this is real, not quite able to believe this is really happening.

“I do. I love you, Amy,” Sarah says as she holds the side of Amy’s head and tilts her face downwards so Sarah can lay her forehead against Amy’s and peer into her eyes.

“Sarah,” Amy lifts Sarah’s face up with both hands so she can see her entire face. “I love you so much.”

They both let out a sigh of relief now that their feelings are out in the open between them and they smile at each other, knowing they have both been feeling the same thing for so long. Amy then starts to cry while Sarah gets misty-eyed from the sheer happiness of knowing their love for each other is requited. They hold each other, laugh, cry, and then laugh some more, the warmth engrossing them. It feels like they are floating on a cloud in the sky, just the two of them in their own universe, now full of infinite possibilities.

After a long while, they are startled and brought back to reality by the ringing of Sarah’s phone. Her kids are calling her to say goodnight. Amy turns down the volume on the TV and decides to call and check in with James and her kids as well. They don’t talk for long as Ava is busy talking to her friends online while James is in the middle of playing a video game with Jack. When Amy hangs up, she sees that Sarah is still chatting with her kids, so Amy refreshes the herbal tea for herself and Sarah. As Amy waits for the water to heat up, she flips through the TV channels, and much to her delight, Sabrina, starring Audrey Hepburn, is on. When the tea is ready, Amy sets Sarah’s cup of tea down on the nightstand closest to her and while still talking to William, Sarah reaches for the cup to take a sip before sitting down on the edge of Amy’s bed. Amy takes her own cup of tea and climbs onto the other side of the bed to watch the movie.

When Sarah is done talking on the phone, she swings her feet up onto the bed and slides closer next to Amy, leaning on a pillow against the headboard. She takes another sip of her tea and puts it down. While she is still so joyful that Amy reciprocates her feelings, she doesn’t know what Amy wants exactly. Is just knowing they love each other enough? Would she want a relationship? Would they be part of each other’s families?

“Does James know how you feel? Have you told him?” Sarah asks.

“I haven’t told him. I guess I’m still just figuring all of this out. I never realized why I feel differently about you than I do with all of my other friends. I didn’t even think I was attracted to women that way. And I still don’t think that I am in general, but for some reason, you are a completely different story.” Then Amy asks, “What about Steve? Does he know?”

“Steve knows how I feel about you,” Sarah tells Amy. “For a long time, I felt guilty about keeping it a secret from him, so one day I finally told him. He was cool with it. I mean, I already told him that I was bisexual before we were married. We’ve been married for ten years now, and in all that time I’ve never been interested in anyone else other than him, at least not until you came along. I don’t know that he’d be alright if I were to be with another man or even just any woman. But he’s seen what you and I are like together, and seems to understand why I have a special place in my heart for you.”

“So he’d be okay with us… together?” Amy is unsure what to call it. She could have said ‘having a romantic relationship’, but she doesn’t know if that’s really what Sarah wants. How would that even work when both of them already had husbands of their own?

“Yeah, he said he’d be alright with that, so long as I don’t kick him to the curb completely,” Sarah says. “Obviously, I’ve never asked the kids, but it seems to me they’d probably love to merge our families, if that’s something we all wanted to do.”

“I don’t know if James would be alright with any of that, and I don’t want to hurt him. I love him and I don’t think I could ever leave him, not even for you. Still, I wish I could see you more often, even if we can’t be more than just friends. I don’t know if I can give up the only life I’ve ever known. This is just all a bit overwhelming.”

“I understand. You don’t have to decide right away,” Sarah says as she takes one of Amy’s hands in hers. “Just because you love me, doesn’t mean you love James any less. I can’t replace what you have with him, nor would I ever try. But you can want two different things without diminishing your desire for either. That can apply to people too, as long as there is honesty, trust and all involved are happy with the arrangement.”

“I’ll definitely have to talk to James first,” Amy says.

“Of course. And Amy, we don’t have to change anything at all if that’s what you really want. I’ll always love you no matter what, and your happiness means more to me than you’ll ever know.” Then Sarah tries to lighten the mood by leaning sideways to bump Amy before calling her, “My sweet and succulent peach.”

Amy laughs, “That’s ridiculously long for a pet name, sweetheart. How ‘bout we just go with ‘my sweet’ or ‘my peach’?”

“Alright, Amy, my sweet,” Sarah says, not being able to avert a sense of melancholy from filling the room.

As both women fall silent and pretend to be watching the movie, Amy slips her bare legs under the covers to keep warm in the overly air-conditioned room. She should have packed something warmer than shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in, but with just one piece of carry-on luggage, she had had to pack lightly. Sarah shifts and pulls the sheets and blanket out from under herself so that Amy can get comfortable.

“Sarah?” Amy doesn’t want to end the conversation leaving Sarah feeling like this.

“Yeah, Amy?” Sarah doesn’t turn her head to look at Amy. This isn’t exactly how she’d imagined she would feel to find out their love is mutual. Before, it had just been some long far off dream that she could accept would never come to be and didn’t let that get her down. But now, while so close to being with Amy, the possibility of it not happening after all, really hurts.

“I have commitments and responsibilities that I just can’t break or throw away. I really do want to be with you more than anything, but it’s not just about what I want most when others are affected. You understand, right?” Amy can see Sarah’s pain.

Sarah gives a slight nod in silence.

Amy gently turns Sarah’s face towards hers. “Please, believe me. I love you.”

“I know,” Sarah replies. She understands but it still hurts.

“Things would have been different if I had met you before I got married, but it’s more than 17 years too late now,” Amy says as she reaches for Sarah’s hand, herself also feeling sad that circumstances may keep her and Sarah apart. “But I’ll talk to James. I’m sorry that’s all I can offer you right now.”

“Even if we can’t have more, just knowing you love me is enough,” Sarah says. “It might still hurt, but it’s enough. It’s already more than I’d ever thought possible.”

They move closer next to each other and hold each other tightly for a few minutes, both crying tears of joy and sorrow at the same time, trying to comfort each other. When they regain their composure, Sarah puts her arm around Amy as she leans into Sarah, laying her head near Sarah’s heart. Sarah kisses Amy on the top of her head and rests her jaw there as they watch the rest of Sabrina together.

Amy starts getting sleepy after a little while. Sarah is only half watching the movie, and half watching Amy who keeps falling asleep and then startling herself awake. When it gets to the scene were Sabrina is singing La Vie en Rose while Linus is driving, Sarah starts to sing along and Amy nestles deeper into Sarah, finding solace in her voice. When she is done singing, Sarah takes a deep breath, the sweet scent of Amy’s hair taking over her senses, fueling Sarah’s desire. She lets out a deep sigh and gives Amy a gentle kiss on the top of her head before trying to extricate herself from Amy and turning off the TV.

Now feeling only cool air where Sarah had been, Amy sleepily reaches for Sarah’s arm, “Stay with me?” Amy asks before Sarah can get up off the bed.

Sarah silently slides under the covers and tries to sleep, careful to leave a respectful amount of space between them. She would love nothing more than to sleep all tangled up with Amy, but she suppresses her desires because she doesn’t want to pressure Amy into anything she isn’t ready for. Sarah lays awake for a long while, finding Amy’s restless sleep a bit worrisome. Occasionally, Amy talks, or rather mumbles, in her sleep. Sarah can’t make out what she is saying, but it sounds like Amy has a lot on her mind. Just then, Amy startles again, this time, clearly calling out for Sarah. Even though Amy is only half awake, Sarah holds Amy and strokes her back to calm her. After a minute, Amy takes Sarah’s hand and turns over, pressing her back into Sarah, wrapping Sarah’s arm around her as she drifts off, this time into a much more peaceful sleep. Sarah pushes all of her other thoughts away as she lays still, immersing herself in the present. Being able to hold Amy like this while she sleeps feels incredible, more intimate than she’d ever felt with anyone. Sarah nuzzles her nose into Amy’s hair, filling her senses with the familiar sweet scent which seems to expand into the space all around her. Sarah surrenders to the feeling of being swallowed up by this ethereal goddess, giving herself up to the deep sleep that overtakes her.


	7. Chapter 7

Everyone can’t believe that it is already Thursday and that their trip is soon coming to an end. They have been having so much fun, and much like the first week, this second week seems to be flying by. The guys will be traveling back to LA with the kids on the redeye flight tomorrow, while Amy and Sarah fly out to Kona the following morning for HawaiiCon. They spend this morning and early afternoon lazing about the beaches in the southern part of Maui. After lunch, they decide to venture into the Shops of Wailea before heading back to the beach house to start packing. 

As they walk through, mainly venturing into the more local shops, something catches James’ eye in one of the small art galleries. He walks right up to a couch made from the body of a classic car. “Wow, I’ve gotta have this,’ James says.

“No way! We don’t have any space for it. Where would you even put it?” Amy protests.

“This is some piece! It’s from a 1960s MGB Roadster!” Sarah exclaims. “Babe, do you see this?”

“It’s awesome! We can make space for it,” Steve says.

“Hey, why do you get it? I saw it first,” James chuckles.

“Okay Sweetie, you can get it,” Amy says.

“Really?” James asks, surprised.

Amy smiles and puts her hand on James shoulder. “Sure. You better love it so much that you don’t mind sleeping on it every night from now on,” she says.

James shakes his head, smiling sheepishly and they all laugh.

The gallery owners, Joy and Bob, offer them something to drink and ask where they are from. While Amy is casually chatting with Joy, Sarah and the guys talk to Bob about the car couch. It turns out that Bob restores classic cars as a hobby, but for ones that he can no longer find parts, he recycles the car’s body by transforming them into couches that look amazing for anyone looking for a unique piece of art. This is only the third one he’s ever made. He also paints and some of his art is featured in the gallery along with works from world-renowned artists as well as some popular local artists. Joy is a photographer and she also runs her small resort fashion and jewelry boutique in a corner of the gallery where Amy and the younger kids have all congregated with her. 

Joy and Bob are very relaxed and friendly, treating the gang like old friends. Bob even offers to let them take one of his classic cars for a quick spin. Amy and the younger kids are happy to stay in the air-conditioned gallery while Sarah, Steve, James and Jack follow Bob to the parking lot and are excited to see a shiny white 1967 Jaguar 340. When Bob asks which of them would like to go first, Sarah takes the keys and starts the car. As soon as the guys pile in, Sarah takes off, “Whoo!” she hollers in delight, loving the sound of the roaring engine and the thrill of driving such a rare beauty. 

While they are out, someone walks into the gallery and greets Joy with a hug and kisses. He is picking up some clothing he had special ordered and wants to make sure Joy and Bob remember that he’s playing at the Four Seasons tonight with his local band. He apologizes to Amy for interrupting, but Amy is star struck.

Violet speaks up, “You should wait your turn next time,” she says, giving him her best scowl.

“Oh, Vivi, it’s alright. We were just talking with Ms. Joy and waiting around anyway,” Amy tells Violet, finally finding her voice.

“But he didn’t even say ‘excuse me’!” Violet protests.

The man gets down to Violet’s level, “Hi there. You’re right. I’m really sorry I interrupted. I was just so happy to see Joy because she and I are good friends, and I didn’t see you at first. Can you forgive me?”

“You forgot to say ‘please’,” Violet lectures the man.

“Oh, what was I thinking!” the man exclaims, animatedly smacking his own forehead with his palm. “Can you please forgive me? Pretty please?” he adds playfully. 

“Well, since you asked nicely… okay,” Violet says.

“You’re a spunky kid. I love it,” the man says to Violet, and then she runs off to see what Ava is looking at. “Your daughter is so cute, reminds me of my own grandchildren. So honest, innocent, not afraid to put anyone in their place,” the man says with a laugh to Amy.

Amy is finally able to say something to him, “Oh, Vivi’s not my daughter. Mine’s the older one over there with her.”

“Oh, I forgot. Hi, I’m Steven,” the man holds out his hand to shake Amy’s.

“I know,” Amy says shyly, trying to keep herself from fangirling. “I’m Amy,” she adds, almost forgetting to introduce herself.

Just then, Sarah and the guys return.

“Hey Bob! There you are! I just came by to pick up my order, and to make sure you and the missus haven’t forgotten that I’m playing tonight. You’ll be there?” Steven asks Bob.

“Sure thing! You know Joy and I never miss one of your shows,” Bob replies to Steven.

“Guys, this is one of our good friends…,” Bob tries to introduce the man.

“Oh my god, you’re Steven Tyler!” Sarah exclaims and hugs him.

“Mommy, you know that man?” Violet asks, tugging on her mom.

“Vivi, he’s a famous singer!” Sarah tells her daughter. Then she holds out her hand to Steven, “Hi I’m Sarah. This is my husband Steve, and our friend James. This is his son Jack, and I see you’ve met James’ wife Amy, and the kids.”

The guys all shake hands and introduce themselves. When Steven shakes James’ hand, he gets a feeling that James is familiar. “Do we know each other? I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before,” Steven says to James. “And no, that’s not a pickup line,” he jokes.

“No, we’ve never met, unfortunately. I’m a big fan though. Grew up listening to a lot of Aerosmith. Went to quite a few concerts, but couldn’t ever get any better tickets than way in the back,” James says. 

“Hey, listen, I’m playing tonight at the Four Seasons with my local band. Why don’t you guys come? Bob and Joy can take you guys backstage. You can bring the kids too if it’s not too late for them.”

“Really? That’d be awesome!” James replies.

“You’ve got that New York accent too. You know, I grew up there. Still visit all the time,” Steven tells James, still trying to figure out where he had seen him before. Then turning to the gallery owners, he says, “Bob, Joy, would you mind meeting them and taking them backstage when they arrive tonight?”

“Of course, it’ll be fun!” Bob responds.

“Great. It’s nice meeting you. I guess I’ll see you all tonight then,” Steven says as he departs. After taking a few steps, he turns around, “Oh I know where I’ve seen you! You were in Rock of Ages, on Broadway! You played Jaxx. I knew I’d seen you somewhere before,” Steven says.

“You’ve seen me perform? Wow, I’m honored,” James says.

“Don’t be, I didn’t say you were good,” Steven says, creating an awkward silence. “Just kidding, you were great! That’s probably the only reason I remembered your face. Are you guys all in the entertainment industry? Would I have seen you in anything?”

“James and I are just a couple of working actors, some TV work, several movies but nothing huge. But Steve and Sarah are famous. Steve’s been on the TV show Shameless for nine seasons now. And Sarah has been in so many shows and movies in the last twenty years that I’m sure you’ve seen her in something,” Amy says.

“Amy’s so modest, but she’s probably been in more TV shows and movies than I have, and definitely more than Steve has,” Sarah says. “Amy and I actually met on the set of Person of Interest several years ago.”

“Oh, that was shot in New York. I don’t watch much TV or movies, so you’ll have to forgive me, but I’ve heard good things about that show. One of my friends is obsessed with it and keeps telling me to watch it. Maybe I will, just for you two lovely ladies,” Steven says. “Well, I’ve gotta go. See you all tonight.”

The gang chat some more with the gallery owners until the twins get a little restless. They ask for nearby recommendations for dinner and then invite Joy and Bob to join them. It is decided that they will meet at Matteo’s for 6:30 pm, and after dinner they will walk over to the Four Seasons together. It’s not every day one gets invited to party backstage with Steven Tyler and watch him perform up close.

The performance is awesome, and what’s even better is Steven surprises them by inviting James onstage to a roaring crowd and asks him to sing Dream On with them. James kills it, and the thrill of singing onstage with Steven Tyler to an energized crowd is unbelievable and so invigorating, definitely a memory of a lifetime. The gang enjoy all of the fun and excitement backstage and have no regrets about the last-minute change to their evening plans even if it means they will have to rush packing for tomorrow. When it eventually gets late for the twins, Sarah and Amy take them home while the older kids stay with James and Steve a little longer.

Amy could have stayed, but she is tired and just as happy to go back with Sarah. They hadn’t had any time alone since last Sunday when they had the entire morning free. While one of Sarah’s cast mates had morning commitments to the convention, Sarah took his flashy rental Ferrari and drove up to the north shore with Amy for some time out together, away from the gaze of others. They mostly talked and sat on the quiet beach or walked arm in arm, leaning into each other. Sometimes Amy rested her head on Sarah’s shoulder and Sarah would then rest the side of her head against Amy’s. Amy had put together a simple picnic for them, which was actually quite impressive, given how it was a last minute decision and there wasn’t much time to plan ahead. They both had wished they didn’t have afternoon commitments to the convention, but sadly, their magical morning had to come to an end. After the busy afternoon at the convention, they took the first flight back to Maui, and while their families have spent nearly every waking moment together, they haven’t had any privacy.

The ladies get dropped off to where they parked the SUV, and the twins fall asleep almost immediately after being secured in their car seats. Amy tries to stay awake and chat with Sarah but when they get to the main highway, she, too, eventually falls asleep. She is exhausted as she hasn’t been sleeping well all week. She keeps thinking about the conversation she had with James about her feelings for Sarah.

After retiring to their bedroom that Sunday night, Amy reached for his arm. “James, we need to talk,” she said, her soft gentle voice carrying a serious tone.

When James looked at Amy, his eyes were red and glistening with tears, sensing what Amy wanted to talk about. “Amy, I know…. I just want you to be happy.”

“James, I love you,” Amy said, reaching over his shoulders and wrapping her arms around him, leaning into him. She hoped James could feel just how much she still loves him. “I’m not planning on going anywhere. Let’s figure this out together.”

Even though she and James had talked almost all night and a bit more in the following nights, Amy still hasn’t decided what she is ultimately going to do. She imagines she will have to talk to Sarah about it soon, but she doesn’t know what to tell her yet.

When they arrive back at the beach house, Amy helps Sarah with the twins’ bedtime routine. As the ladies are about to tuck the twins in for the night, Knox asks, “Auntie Amy, can you be our mommy?” before letting out a yawn.

“What do you mean? You already have the best mommy,” Amy responds, feeling a bit uncomfortable but trying not to show it, instead focusing on listening and understanding what Knox is trying to communicate.

“I know. But we want a second mommy. For when mommy’s away,” Knox says.

“You take care of us and Uncle James plays with us so much and we all just love each other. We get sad when mommy or daddy are away,” Violet adds.

“And taking turns with just one grownup is so hard,” Knox explains, looking at both of the adults in the room.

“Yeah. So we want mommy and… Amy, you can be ‘mama’ and then we have daddy and so Uncle James can be… ‘papa’,” Violet proposes.

“Good idea!” Knox agrees excitedly. Then turning to Sarah, “Mommy, can Amy be our mama? Please?” Knox begs.

Sarah is flustered, tired and doesn’t know what to say. She should have prepared an answer from the time Violet had brought it up last week, knowing it would come up again. Sarah would love for them to all be one big happy family, but since the previous weekend at the convention when Amy and Sarah had admitted their mutual feelings for each other, they hadn’t spoken about any further plans. Sarah wonders if Amy has decided to revert to being friends exactly as before, or if she actually wants more. Sarah looks over at Amy and sees how Amy adores her twins. Surely Amy will come up with the right thing to say to say to the little ones. She always seems to know how to make others feel comfortable. 

Not wanting to cross any boundaries, Amy replies to the twins playfully, “It looks like we’ve had way too much fun together today! It’s late now. Maybe we can talk about it another time.” Amy strokes Knox’s back affectionately, hoping to calm a wave of excited energy which would keep them awake for hours.

“Okay,” the twins agree, settling down.

“Goodnight Knoxy. Goodnight Vivi. Love you,” Amy says as she gives each child a hug and a kiss on the top of the head as if they were her own.

“Night Moonpie. Night Bluey,” as Sarah kisses each on the cheek. Amy tucks Violet in while Sarah tucks Knox in.

“Night Amy. Night mommy,” the twins say in unison as the ladies leave and close the bedroom door behind them.

After making themselves more comfortable, the ladies settle in with some herbal tea as they sit down next to each other on the sofa. Sarah slowly sips from her cup of hot tea, waiting for Amy to break the silence. Sarah had previously made it clear to Amy what she and Steve thought of their situation and possible arrangements, but the last time they talked about it, Amy had just started to figure herself out and still had to approach James about all of it. Sarah doesn’t want to pressure Amy, but the suspense is unbearable. Even if Amy hasn’t decided, Sarah is hoping for Amy to let her know what she is thinking.

When Amy remains silent, Sarah is starting to think that perhaps Amy isn’t really all that into her after all and maybe Amy was just confused before. If Amy would like to pretend they never admitted their feelings for each other or put it behind them and go on being just friends, Sarah would understand. It would suck, but she’d understand. She hopes it doesn’t change the friendship they have though. Sometimes friends grow apart after something happens even if both agree it’s best to remain friends and vow not to let things change. People would like to think that’s possible, but in reality, it’s not that easy when spending time together can be a constant reminder that you both want something different from each other.

“Okay, Amy, you’re killing me,” Sarah caves in to her internal fears and looks away. “You haven’t said anything all week.” When Amy doesn’t answer right away, Sarah feels a deep ache in her heart, takes a deep breath in and then lets it out, preparing herself for the worst; Amy isn’t actually in love with her after all. She tries to blink back the tears that she feels welling up in her eyes.

Amy had been staring into her cup of tea while gathering her thoughts and hadn’t noticed at which point Sarah turned sad until she heard a small sob being masked as a deep breath and looked over at her friend.

“I’m sorry,” Amy starts. “I talked to James about it and ….”

“Don’t be sorry. I get it. Don’t say any more,” Sarah says, unable to hold back the tears any longer as one rolls down the side of her cheek before she swipes it away with her hand. “It was probably wrong of me to let myself fall in love with you anyway. But I couldn’t help it, even when I tried to minimize spending time with you outside of work by flying back home to LA whenever we weren’t shooting while you stayed in New York. I see how much you and James love each other and I would never want to ruin that. I guess I was stupid to even think….” 

“Sarah,” Amy takes Sarah’s hand and intertwines their fingers, hoping to reassure Sarah that her love is requited. “That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry for making you wait so long. I talked to James and the kids, and they’re fine with the potential arrangements we’ve talked about. I just didn’t want to say anything until we’re all sure.”

“So, it’s you that’s not sure then?” Sarah asks Amy.

“Well, this is all happening so fast. I love you, Sarah, and I really do believe our families would feel right at home with each other. But it’s just crazy to jump into something as big as merging our lives based on one two-week vacation together,” Amy says. “We should probably get to know each other some more before we… what do we even call it?”

“Shacking up?” Sarah replies, letting out a chuckle while wiping the tears from her eyes.

With a grin forming at how silly that sounds and yet how scandalous it would be, Amy says, “Yeah. It’s a bit too soon for that, I think.” Having been brought up by a very conservative family in Texas, it had been unacceptable even to consider ‘living in sin’ with someone, let alone a lifestyle that was anything other than a traditional heteronormative one. Amy is fine with the idea. In fact, she’s even a fan of the show Big Love, but she doesn’t really know what it will be like to actually share each other as she had only ever been in exclusive relationships with men. “Don’t you think we should at least go on a few dates first?” Amy jokes.

“Are you saying you want me to wine and dine you?” Sarah jokes, no longer upset.

“Is that too much to ask?” Amy pouts, playing along. “And just so you know,” Amy says with a tilt of the head, “I don’t put out on the first date.”

Sarah smirks, “Please, we’ve slept together lots of times already, including just last Saturday, remember?”

“Just sleeping doesn’t count!” Amy protests.

“So what you’re saying is, I should show up with a dozen roses, treat you to dinner and a show, and if I’m really lucky, you might even let me kiss your gloved hand before saying goodnight?” Sarah asks sarcastically, although Amy knows Sarah is just teasing her.

“Depends how good the show is, Sweetheart,” Amy says with a naughty grin, while overtly giving Sarah the once-over. “But I will say the preview looks very promising.” They both laugh.

“Amy, okay, seriously, we’ve known each other for years. But we can take it slow. We don’t have to decide anything right away,” Sarah says, trying to return to a real discussion about their relationship.

“Sarah, I know what I want in my heart, and that’s to be with you. But my head is telling me that this is totally crazy. I mean, it is. It really is crazy!” Amy explains.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Sarah says. “But I’m crazy about you and have been for a long time, so whatever it takes. I just want to be with you.” She wants to kiss Amy, but hesitates. She looks into Amy’s eyes, and Amy moves closer to Sarah.

Amy leans in, letting Sarah know it’s alright to kiss her, that Amy wants to be kissed. As Amy waits for Sarah’s lips to meet hers the rest of the way, Amy gets a little shy at the last moment and looks down, resulting in Sarah’s nose poking into Amy’s eye. Sarah apologizes as Amy pulls back, her eye involuntarily watering. She rubs her eye and laughs, “No, it’s not your fault. I got a little self-conscious and thought maybe I had bad breath and you didn’t want to kiss me.”

“Oh, My Sweet, that’s never gonna happen. I’ll always want to kiss you. Even if you just ate a whole head of garlic, or have morning breath, even if you’re all sweaty and gross,” Sarah says, enjoying a laugh with Amy. Sarah swallows before continuing in a more serious voice, “Well, waking up to you in the morning feels amazing, and I’d actually really enjoy that last thing too. You’d drive me….” 

Amy cuts Sarah off, grabbing the sides of her head with both hands, and crashing her mouth into Sarah’s in a bold crushing kiss. Sarah, surprised by Amy’s aggressiveness, finds herself melting into jelly, willing to let Amy do anything to her. The long, racy kiss leaves them both out of breath. 

Amy feels flush, her head buzzing from kissing Sarah. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into me,” she apologizes to Sarah for being rough.

“Don’t be,” Sarah says, herself feeling the electrifying energy and heat. “I kind of enjoy this sort of thing.”

Recognizing that line from their first scene together in Person of Interest, they both chuckle. “I am so glad you said that. I do too,” Amy says with a grin as she straddles Sarah.

Before Sarah can laugh at Amy’s character’s line, Amy resumes kissing Sarah hungrily, pressing their bodies together. As they continue to kiss, Amy lets out a moan when she feels Sarah’s body responding to her touch.

Having let Amy set the pace, Sarah finally allows herself to caress Amy, to make her feel like the incredible woman that she is.

Amy is sometimes a little self-conscious, but having Sarah completely consumed with touching her, with kissing her, and so turned on by her, it feels great to know someone as sexy as Sarah finds her sexy and desirable too. Sarah makes her feel so confident, so beautiful, so… free. After a few more minutes of indulging in this new pleasure, she puts her arms around Sarah’s neck, this time planting a gentle kiss on Sarah’s lips. 

“What was that for?” Sarah asks, noticing the change in Amy’s demeanor.

“Nothing. Well, actually, everything,” Amy replies as she hugs Sarah tight for a few seconds before pulling away and standing up. 

“Okay, are you sure everything’s alright?” Sarah asks.

“Yes, let’s just not rush for tonight though. I want our first time to be special. I don’t want to get distracted or interrupted by everyone coming back, which could be anytime now,” Amy says.

“Sure, we can wait. I’m going to need to take a cold shower though,” Sarah laughs.

“I promise we’ll have time soon. We’ll make time,” Amy says.

As Sarah gets up off the sofa, Amy pulls her in for one more kiss. Just then, they hear the other SUV pull up and everyone hopping out of the car.

“Are you sure you don’t have The Machine in your ear? How’d you know they’d be back this instant?” Sarah asks.

They both laugh and Amy goes to open the door.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last official chapter of the story. We have decided to do an epilogue that will be posted as a separate/shorter chapter, hopefully very soon. Thanks for reading!

The ladies are up early to do some packing. Amy eventually starts on breakfast as Sarah has much more to pack for the younger kids, whereas Amy can count on Jack and Ava to pack their own personal belongings. Amy calls Sarah when breakfast is ready, and as she comes into the kitchen to get her coffee that Amy just finished making, they give each other a quick peck on the lips before sitting down at the table.

“Hey Sweetheart, did you want to do a late dinner tonight after we drop everyone off at the airport, or did you want to have an early family dinner instead?” Amy asks. “There are a few places close to the airport, or we could visit one of the smaller towns just outside the city and find a local restaurant.”

“Hmm, maybe one last dinner with the family since I won’t see the kids until Monday morning when I’ll have to rush them off to school,” Sarah says after briefly considering the options. She would love to have the entire evening with Amy all to herself but she has to prioritize her kids’ needs above her own wants.

“Good. I was hoping you’d say that as I really wanted to visit Paia this trip but we haven’t gone yet. So maybe after everyone’s packed and we eat lunch, we can go spend the afternoon and have dinner there.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re not disappointed to not have a romantic dinner with me tonight,” Sarah chuckles sarcastically.

“We’ll have time for that tomorrow night.” Amy then puts on her best flirty voice, “Besides, I think I’d rather have you for dessert tonight.” Amy tries to wink, and Sarah laughs at how adorable Amy is because she can’t do a proper wink and always ends up blinking both eyes.

Before Sarah can say something dirty in response, Violet finds Amy and Sarah at the table and sits down to eat breakfast. Violet eventually gets distracted and wants to wake Ava, but Amy knows how moody her kids can get when tired so it’s best to let them sleep in a little after being out late last night.

“Vivi, why don’t we play a game of ‘I spy’ while we eat?” Amy suggests.

“Okay! I spy with my little eye, something that is beautiful,” Violet eagerly starts.

“Hmm, is it your mommy?” Amy asks, giving Sarah a quick glance and smile.

“No. She is, but that’s not what I’m thinking,” Violet states in a matter of fact kind of way.

“Oh. Is it the ocean?” Amy guesses.

“No,” Violet says. “I’ll give you a clue. It’s a person in this room.”

“It’s you then!” Amy exclaims.

“No! You’re so silly Amy. Of course I’m beautiful, but the game is ‘I Spy’ and there’s no mirror so I can’t see me!” Violet says.

“Sure you can see yourself,” Sarah snarks. “You can see your own body.”

“Oh mommy, you know what I mean. And you’re not playing. Go eat some more pancakes and let me play with Amy,” Violet says with a tone of frustration.

Just then, Ava enters and greets everyone groggily before reaching for some pancakes herself. Amy passes her the coconut syrup for her pancakes.

“Amy, we’re not done playing! Keep guessing!” Violet says.

“Hmm… well if it’s not your mommy and it’s not you, oh, I give up!” Amy says, throwing her arms up in the air playfully.

“Dumbass, it’s you,” Sarah says.

“Mommy you’re the dumbass. The answer is Ava!” Violet announces.

“What! She wasn’t even in the room when you said ‘it’s someone in this room’ so how can it be Ava?” Sarah argues.

“Well, I said ‘it’s a person in this room’ not ‘it’s someone who WAS in this room’ so it can be Ava. I changed my first answer,” Violet explains.

“That’s cheating,” Sarah declares. “But they’re both beautiful, aren’t they?”

“Uh-huh,” Violet agrees.

They have a wonderful afternoon in Paia, taking their time to explore the local shops and galleries. They have dinner at the Paia Fish Market Restaurant where everyone enjoys the good food and good company. Jack and Ava are adventurous eaters and it has rubbed off on the Howey kids who are now willing to try everything at least once. It’s nice to see that even Knox opts out of the usual kids’ menu items and chooses the grilled ono. After dinner, they go to the airport where Amy and Sarah see off their husbands and kids. After a big hug and lots of kisses, her twins happily run to Ava and start negotiating with each other on who gets to sit next to her on the plane. James warmly hugs Sarah goodbye, conveying his full trust in her, that she will take care of Amy. Steve and Amy hug, telling each other how much they enjoyed their family trip together, and Steve makes a slightly dirty joke which causes Amy to blush and giggle. Once the luggage is loaded up on the carts, Steve dramatically dips Sarah before kissing her and setting her upright again. Sarah roughly pinches his ass before getting on her tippy toes to give him one last peck on the lips. James kisses Amy goodbye, and she hangs onto him for an extra second, looking at him with glowing eyes. He smiles, knowing how much they still adore each other, and Amy gives him one more small kiss before letting go.

Sarah returns the rental SUV with the booster seats, and Amy drives the other one back to the beach house with Sarah for their very last night there. About halfway there, Sarah starts running her hand over Amy’s thigh, letting her hand slide under Amy’s dress a little. They had decided to keep any displays of affection out of the sight of the children for the time being and she’s been pent up all day in anticipation of finally having Amy all to herself. Amy finds herself craving Sarah’s touch, and it feels nice that Sarah is giving her the physical attention while not distracting her from driving safely.

When they finally get back to the beach house, they are all over each other as soon as they are in the front door. Amy almost trips from kicking off her shoes while kissing Sarah, and Sarah catches her. Sarah then picks Amy up and Amy wraps her legs around Sarah’s waist as they continue to kiss. Sarah carries Amy all the way to the spare bedroom and throws her down on the bed before straddling her.

While making out on the bed, Sarah’s hands explore Amy’s body over her clothes, as Amy reaches under Sarah’s shirt and is pleasantly surprised that Sarah was going braless again. When Amy feels Sarah’s knee pushing up her dress between her thighs, she parts them, letting out a soft moan when she feels Sarah’s thigh press up against her, only the thin layer of her panties separating them.

After a few minutes in this position, Sarah feels Amy stiffen for a few seconds before Amy pulls her hips away. “Amy, are you alright?” Sarah asks.

Her question is met with silence, but Sarah hears Amy take a couple deep breaths.

“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Amy tries to reassure Sarah.

“Did you want to stop? Please, tell me, what can I do to make things right?”

“Just keep going,” Amy says.

“Amy, My Sweet, we really don’t have to finish if you don’t want to continue,” Sarah says in a concerned manner.

“Hmm…” Amy turns her head away to the side and purses her lips. “It’s too late,” she says as she turns a bright shade of red.

“What? Amy, we’re not even undressed yet,” Sarah says in confusion. “We can stop. We can stop anytime you want.”

“No, I mean… oh, this is embarrassing…,” Amy covers her face with her hands.

“Just tell me,” Sarah implores her.

“It’s not fair that you’re so fuckin’ good at this,” Amy blurts out. “And it’s your turn now and I’m not sure I know what I’m doing yet.” Amy says, half laughing at how ridiculous she must sound.

“My turn for what?” Sarah asks innocently.

“You know…,” Amy can’t bring herself to admit in words that Sarah had already gotten her to orgasm with just a little bit of foreplay. It wasn’t one of those mind-blowing ones, but to have even a small one so quickly and after so little direct physical stimulation, she didn’t know what to make of it. It was something Amy had never felt before, nor ever thought was even possible, not for her anyway.

“Oh! Amy, how did I not realize! I thought you were nervous or changing your mind about us,” Sarah says in relief. “But be honest. Did you like it? I mean, if it was good, I thought I should have been at least able to tell.”

“Sarah, you’re amazing. I’m just a little embarrassed. Doesn’t this sort of thing just happen to inexperienced guys? I’m so sorry,” Amy apologizes.

“Oh, My Sweet, there’s nothing wrong with coming early as long as you can still keep going afterward. That’s why many women are lucky, we can come as early and often as we can and it doesn’t matter.” Holding Amy’s face close, Sarah adds, “And we don’t have to take turns. Just do what feels natural and don’t hold back. I’m game for just about anything.”

“Does that mean we need a safe word or something?” Amy asks teasingly while flipping Sarah on her back and pinning her down on the bed.

“It’s going to be that kind of a party, huh?” Sarah grins in delight.

The next morning, Amy is awake early but tries not to jostle and wake Sarah who is resting her head on top of Amy’s and lightly snoring. Amy immerses herself in the present, committing to memory everything about this moment, of waking up in the arms of this amazing woman. She later subconsciously starts stroking Sarah’s hair, then her back, and plants light little kisses on Sarah’s neck and shoulder. Sarah stirs slightly, feeling aroused, thinking she must have been having a sexual dream, and then she sees Amy, feels Amy kissing her while they are still tangled up in each other. She gently nuzzles her nose into Amy’s cheek and when Sarah’s sleepy eyes meet Amy’s, Amy presses her mouth to Sarah’s with a very slow and deep kiss. Waking up to Amy completely naked and natural and being kissed by her so tenderly is more incredible than Sarah thought possible.

“Good morning,” Amy says, her sweet smile resembling a beautiful sunrise.

“Mmm. I’ll say,” Sarah smiles sleepily. “Did you enjoy last night?”

“Mm-hmm. You’re amazing, you know that?” Amy asks rhetorically, snuggling back down into Sarah’s chest. “What about you?”

Sarah squeezes Amy tightly and kisses the top of her head and breathes in the sweet smell of her hair. “It’s like you know me better than I know myself,” Sarah says. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way before, Amy.”

“Have you missed it all these years? I mean, having sex with women?” Amy asks.

“Not really. But if it had felt like it did with you, I probably would have,” Sarah replies.

It wasn’t just the physical sex, as amazing as it was, but it touched Sarah emotionally in a way she’s never felt before, how earnest it all felt. Finally baring their souls, the mutual desire to be loved gently, affectionately, being adept at sensing when the other needed a little more, it almost felt like they were extensions of each other, knowing exactly when, where, and how to touch each other, to build up the tension between them and holding on to the edge as long as possible before waves upon waves of sheer pleasure took over, affirming their devotion. They had come again and again, sometimes separately, sometimes in tandem, each time more intense than the one before, until their lovemaking culminated in the most mind-blowing climax either of them has ever had, leaving their bodies weak and their legs shaky from the powerful release. They held each other and kissed lovingly as they enjoyed every last quiver of their orgasms and had fallen asleep soon after, still embracing and with their legs wrapped around one another.

“I just feel so connected to you, Amy, and I can’t really describe whatever it is that’s between us. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” Amy replies, gazing dreamily into Sarah’s eyes. They lay quietly on the bed tangled up in each other for a little while longer, cherishing all that has happened between them.

When the alarm clock goes off, Amy rolls over in the bed to turn it off right away. “Come on, it’s time to get up,” Amy says as she gets up off the bed, feeling completely free to be naked in front of Sarah.

When Sarah starts looking for and picking up her clothes, Amy takes the clothes out of her hand, throws them back down and leads Sarah by the hand, out of the bedroom. “We’ll have time for that in a bit. Come, I want to do something first,” Amy says.

“What are we doing?” Sarah asks, getting curious as Amy leads them outside the house and through the beachfront landscaped grounds.

“I’ve always wanted to go skinny dipping in the ocean but never had the courage to do it,” Amy says.

“Seriously? Amy what if someone sees us? I’m all for going topless on the beach, but completely naked? I mean shouldn’t we bring towels to cover up, at least until we’re close to the water?”

“Relax, there’s no one even out there this early! And so what if they do see us?!” Amy exclaims. They dash hand-in-hand across the beach walk path, through the sand and wade into the ocean, further and further out.

“If you go any deeper, I’ll have to tread water,” Sarah says.

“Not if I do this,” Amy says as she grabs Sarah’s ass and lifts her near weightless body to set over her own hips before laying a trail of kisses from Sarah’s mouth all the way down her neck.

“Mmm. We don’t have that much time before we have to catch our flight,” Sarah reminds Amy between her own moans of pleasure. Sarah crosses her legs tightly around Amy’s slender waist, leaving just enough room for Amy’s hand between them.

“I bet I can get you there in five minutes,” Amy boasts.

“Five minutes?” Sarah sneers, leaning back a little so she can see Amy’s face.

“What, you don’t think I can do it?” Amy teases.

“No, it’s not that. Just, what’s gotten into you?!” Sarah asks, surprised but happy to see this side of Amy.

“You,” Amy says with a giggle.

“Gross!” Sarah laughs.

“I don’t mean physically. I mean, the way you make me feel… I feel like I can do anything,” Amy says.

“You’ve always been good at everything, Amy. Alright, but just five minutes. I don’t want to miss our flight. If you lose, you owe me all I can eat pancake breakfast when we get back to LA. That way it’s a win-win for me.”

“We can have brunch instead,” Amy says with flirty eyes, before sinking her teeth into Sarah and setting to work.

“Mmm,” Sarah moans. “I do like brunch.”

On the flight to Kona, the ladies joke about joining the mile high club. Amy is surprised that Sarah isn’t already a member. “Amy, I’m not that crazy, you know. Now, if we could steal a private jet like Root and Shaw and have The Machine fly it, then maybe we can talk about it,” Sarah laughs.

The ladies are only committed to the convention for Saturday afternoon, so that leaves time for exploring the island a little bit in the evening and on Sunday before they take the redeye flight back to LA. After the convention, the ladies go back to the hotel to make plans for dinner, but end up getting takeout and staying in so they can spend more time together in private and just be themselves, away from the gaze of others. They know that, together, they can conquer all that life will throw at them, but they aren’t yet wanting the outside world to know they are romantically linked. For now, they are happy to just hold each other, share their deepest desires, show their vulnerabilities, foster their deep trust and understanding of each other, and revel in their own world where no one else exists.

The next morning, Amy wakes up to Sarah spooning and kissing her from behind. She must have developed bruises overnight as she feels a little tender in all the places Sarah kisses. She remains still, not wanting Sarah to stop. She lets herself remember last night as Sarah kisses each bruise, thinking back to the exact moment that likely caused each one. Last night had been an absolute contrast to the gentle, soft lovemaking from the night before. Amy hadn’t ever been into rough sex, but with Sarah, she finds herself completely unabashed to demand and take what she wants, knowing Sarah is enjoying it as well. She also loves feeling Sarah’s desperate need for her and is pleased to help fulfil her wild fantasies, fully trusting Sarah with every single part of her body and soul.

Sarah kisses down Amy’s neck, to her shoulder, and down one side of her back to her ass. When Sarah works her way to the side of Amy’s thigh, Amy moans, reaching her hand down to the base of Sarah’s head before rolling onto her back and directing Sarah’s mouth to where she wants more attention. Without speaking, Sarah obliges all the while staring longingly into Amy’s eyes, wanting to please her, to pleasure her, to love her, to give her everything she so desires. When Amy moans in gratification, she pulls Sarah up for a deep, slow kiss, both of them a little out of breath.

While laying down on the bed facing each other, Amy then notices all the bruises she left on Sarah from last night. “I hope I didn’t hurt you too much last night,” Amy says as she gently lays her hand on Sarah’s back and strokes her hand over a bruise.

“I loved every single minute of it. I knew you could take it, but I didn’t know just how great you’d be at dishing it out, too. Not that I’m surprised by what you can do,” Sarah says. “Seriously, Amy, is there anything you can’t do?”

“Well, apparently, I can’t wink, so I’ve been told,” Amy offers, while adorably attempting to wink but inevitably blinking her other eye as well.

“You couldn’t have a more perfect and endearing imperfection!” Sarah laughs and she kisses Amy.

They eventually get dressed to go parasailing. Sarah has rented a motorcycle and while James owns a motorcycle, Amy has never actually ridden on the back of one before. She’s a little nervous, but Sarah assures her that she is perfectly safe with her and that there is a lot more open space on the road here than back in LA if she is worried about other drivers. For the first mile, Amy’s chest is firmly pressed into Sarah’s back, her arms gripping around Sarah tightly, her nails digging slightly into Sarah’s stomach. Gradually, Amy relaxes and starts to lean with Sarah into every turn, loosening her death grip on Sarah as they ride to their destination.

They get on the boat and prepare for tandem parasailing at 1200 ft. When they are up in the air, it feels surreal, just the two of them, hand in hand, feeling like they are sitting on a cloud, looking upon an unspoiled world.

For the rest of the day, they ride through as much of the island as they have time for, stopping often to take in the sights, and supporting the local food/fruit stands. They even explore the nearby lava tubes. The day has been so fun and spontaneous, not having to keep to a strict schedule or have other people to plan around. When it is time to catch their flight, melancholy starts to set in as the ladies think how it will suck not to be able to see each other tomorrow and every day forward.

As they wait for their flight to board, they call their husbands to tell them the flight is on schedule as well as talk about what everyone has been up to all day. James mentions that he finds it a little too quiet after getting used to having little kids around all day, every day. After talking about their kids, James says, “Hey Baby, just wanted to let you know, Kevin next door, well, he came by this morning and told me he’s moving out to Florida. Anyway, he asked me if we had any friends who’d like to buy his place before he lists it with an agent. I know you weren’t sure if things were going too fast, but I was thinking, maybe it’s just meant to be, you and Sarah. I think it’d be great if she could move in next to us, and you could see each other all the time. It would be good for all of us.”

Amy considers what James said about the house next door, but frowns, thinking it’s unrealistic. Amy would do everything in her power to make it happen if that’s what Sarah would want, but it seems like a lot to ask of Sarah, to ask her to uproot her family. Perhaps Amy could ask James to move closer to Sarah, but Amy loves their house and the proximity to her sister, so she really doesn’t want to move across LA.

The ladies hadn’t discussed when they would try to see each other next, as neither of them had wanted to think about this exclusive time together coming to an end. But as the parting of ways is imminent, and wanting to catch Amy before she falls asleep, Sarah tries to broach the subject as lightheartedly as she can once they are seated.

“So, My Sweet, when can I come over for that pancake breakfast you promised me?” Sarah asks.

“What? I won that bet. Maybe you should make pancakes for me,” Amy laughs.

“The bet was you’d get me there in five minutes. You only took three. Three isn’t five, so technically I win,” Sarah says with a small grin.

“Well, if we’re going to be that technical about it, I believe it was actually brunch that was agreed to, not pancakes,” Amy says, always remembering the slightest of details.

“Whatever,” Sarah laughs. “Seriously though, when will I see you next?”

“Actually,” Amy sighs, letting her desires get the better of her proper judgement. “Do you and Steve have anything to do tomorrow? I can make you those pancakes if you want. But really, I was wondering, do you want to move in next door to us?”

Sarah raises an eyebrow in surprise.

“Sorry, that was probably abrupt of me to ask you like that, but I’m sure you understand since that’s ultimately what I want. I guess I can’t really expect you to pick up your life and move your entire family just for me though. It’s just that…” Amy pauses before continuing. “James told me our neighbor came by this morning to let us know he’s selling and moving to Florida and it seems like the perfect opportunity. I thought maybe you and Steve should come take a look at the house, see if we could make it work for all of us.”

“Sure, okay we can come over. We didn’t make any plans as we usually need a few quiet days just to recover from vacationing with the kids,” Sarah replies. “You sure that’s what you want though? I know you wanted to take things slow.”

“I did, but now that we’re headed back to LA, the end of this flight is probably going to be the last time I get to wake up next to you for a long time. The reality is it’s going to be hard between the kids and our work schedules to know when we’ll be able to spend quality time together especially with all the horrible city traffic when you live on the other side of town. And I don’t like the idea of having to find somewhere to go every time we meet. I want us to have our own space, where we can be together with our families. Realizing just how much I want things to work out between us tells me that’s where I want us to be going, even if it’s a little soon. I think it’ll be better for our families, too, not just you and me. Maybe I’m being impulsive, but…,” Amy lets her sentence drift off.

“Well, it sounds like it could work,” Sarah says, giving it some thought. “Our families living together for two weeks was awesome, but I don’t think living in an LA mansion big enough for all of us is an option anyway, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s the type of lifestyle you want the kids to be raised in either. I know I don’t. Having the place next door makes a lot of sense actually, as long as we can make some private space for you and me to share, too.”

“The property could probably use some work, but my sister is an interior designer so she can help us with that. Between our property and the neighboring one, there’d be plenty of space. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, but of course. We’ll come by as soon as we drop the kids off at school tomorrow and we can talk about it with the guys.”

The ladies push up the armrest between their seats and rest their heads on each other, the melancholy melting away, a feeling of hope taking its place. Sarah takes her little blanket and drapes it over them before they both fall fast asleep.


	9. Epilogue

It takes a few months to get the house fully ready. The initial plan is for Steve, Sarah and their kids to live in the newly renovated property where they also set aside a bedroom for Sarah and Amy. After a couple of weeks, all of the kids and adults feel entirely at home in both houses and treat it as if they’re just living on one big property, one big home with lots of outdoor space. The kids even swap bedrooms with each other. Ava adores the twins who look up to her, and the twins ask to trade bedrooms with Jack to be closer to her. Jack is happy to have a slightly bigger bedroom and William is happy to have someone to play video games with past the twins’ bedtime without worrying about waking them when he gets overly excited.

The loft space on top of the very large garage had taken a few more weeks to finish as the ladies had told the guys they’d like to have some additional private space. When it comes time for the final reveal, the ladies surprise the guys with their own man cave, complete with wet bar, pool table, and state of the art TV and sound system. “This is awesome!” the guys react at the same time. When James walks over to the MGB Roadster couch, recalling what Amy had said when they first saw it in the art gallery, he jokes, “Okay, but I don’t really have to sleep on this thing, right?”

While Amy and Sarah spend a lot of time together, they still love their husbands as much as ever, never leaving them to feel neglected. Any apprehensions anyone may have had about the arrangement is quickly put to rest. Not only are the kids loving the new living arrangements, but Steve and Sarah find they can have more date nights and general couple time together now that Amy, James and the older kids are a big help with the younger ones. Steve and James are glad to always have a buddy to hang out with and to help with repairs and projects around the house. James loves kids and feels ten years younger around the Howey kids, which surprisingly helps with his energy level. Amy enjoys having a home that is always filled with lots of noisy kids and family doing things together as it brings back fond memories of her own childhood, having been the eldest of four children. She also appreciates having Steve and Sarah around as strong influences on the older kids. Her relationship with James remains strong, and they can finally find the time to collaborate on some pet projects. Amy is very intelligent, and she can write intriguing scripts almost effortlessly, and they both have been wanting to direct and produce some of their works together.

They all seem to be finding more time to enjoy life and are able to manage everyone’s busy schedules better despite remaining busy with work. In addition to several guest roles and a potential TV pilot project, James is working on a movie with Liv Tyler. Apparently, she heard about James’ impressive performance on stage with her father, and she thinks James would be perfect to play a younger Steven Tyler in the biopic she is making.

Amy lands the lead role on a smart, new sci-fi TV show, and based on the initial ratings to date, it looks very promising to turn into a long-running series. Steve is finishing his last season on Shameless, and while Reverie’s cancellation after the end of the first season was made public in recent weeks, Sarah’s phone has been ringing constantly with people hoping to land her on their movies and shows for the upcoming season.

A few months later, Sarah finds herself headlining the new show Sex/Life, and one of the producers approaches Sarah, knowing she and Amy are friends, and asks Sarah if she thinks Amy might want to do a two-episode guest role. They are having trouble casting the right person for a female character that is supposed to have absolute fireworks with Sarah’s character, and they can’t think of anyone that has better chemistry with Sarah than Amy.

Sarah and Amy consider the possibility of their relationship becoming public knowledge if they end up working so closely together. They don’t feel the need to draw attention by announcing it officially, but if it should come up, they won’t shy away from admitting to being together, although they don’t want to put a label on their relationship. They aren’t wives since they aren’t married to each other, but they aren’t just girlfriends or lovers either. They are so much more than that. They also aren’t in an open marriage, nor truly polygamous relationship, and even the broader term, polyamorous, isn’t entirely accurate. What they have is a perfect fit for them and each of their family members, and they don’t need some title to be attached to what they have. There will likely be a media frenzy if people find out about them, but their family is ready to handle it.

While doing a promotional interview for the upcoming and highly anticipated episodes of Sex/Life in which Amy guest stars, the host asks Sarah and Amy to address the rumors that have been circulating that they may be cheating on their husbands with each other. People have noticed their immense chemistry on screen and how it extends off screen as well. They have been seen carpooling together a lot, all over LA, and Sarah’s house has recently been put on the market, further fueling the Sarah and Steve divorce rumors.

“Alright, since it’s sorta out there now, yes, Steve and I have put the house up for sale, but no, we’re not getting a divorce,” Sarah explains. “We actually just moved closer to Amy’s family a while ago. Our families get along so well and we help each other out. It works for everyone.”

“When you say “close”, how close are we talking?” the interviewer prods.

Sarah glances over at Amy and when their eyes meet, they smile at each other. Amy isn’t at all embarrassed to be caught admiring Sarah. She can’t help but appreciate Sarah’s confidence, her strong personality, her luscious lips, her long flowing hair….

“We live in two houses next door to each other,” Sarah specifies when Amy seems to be perfectly happy to let her continue to do most of the talking.

“Oh, okay, so the carpooling makes a lot of sense then. So does Amy’s kids who are older come over to your house to babysit for you a lot?“

“It’s actually not really like that at all,” Sarah elaborates. “It’s more like we’re one big happy family. We eat together, watch TV and play together. There’s always someone around to pick up the household responsibilities between the four adults so we don’t have to worry about who’s going to look after the house and kids while we’re working.”

“It sounds like you’re all living together?” The host seems a bit confused.

“Yeah,” Sarah says. “We are.”

“Wait, let me try to understand this. So… is there something going on between you two… or are you just really, REALLY close friends?”

”I don’t know what one would call it. We’re just…us,” Sarah says, looking over at Amy inviting her to add her thoughts to the conversation.

“I don’t think that we need to call it anything, to put a label on it,” Amy says, looking only at Sarah. “I feel kind of like the characters we played in Person of Interest, Shaw and Root. They didn’t call their relationship anything, but whatever it was, they knew it was there, and that was enough. Similarly, what we have, doesn’t work for a lot of people. But it does for us. And maybe this isn’t the right answer, but I feel like we don’t need to define or explain it, to put this idea of our relationship into a box. We’re just free to be ourselves. Our family is happy and we all have what we need and want. This isn’t just about us, but also about our family.” Then turning toward the host and audience, Amy concludes, “We all love each other in different ways, and it works well for all of us.”

The ladies receive a lot of attention after the interview, mostly in support of their new lifestyle. As Hollywood starts taking more notice of them and their amazing acting work in the roles they have played, the ladies find themselves being offered lead roles in big upcoming movies backed by major studios. The guys are praised for their unconditional support of their wives and the media attention subsequently leads to more TV and movie roles for them as well.

Due to their rising popularity, they are approached to do a Person of Interest continuation movie with a sizeable budget where the studio was able to get many of the original writers, producers and staff involved as well. Of course, the ladies are beyond thrilled with the news and jump at the opportunity to reprise their iconic roles as Root and Shaw. The movie is a huge success, resulting in studio plans for another sequel, while bringing in a lot of new fans and introducing them to the original series.

Amy and Sarah finally reach the level of career success and recognition that they have long since deserved, but they don’t let that level of success change them nor the way they live. They still drive their kids to/from school and other activities, help them with their homework, volunteer with their kids’ sports teams, cook dinner at home almost every night, and do their own laundry and chores. What makes them most happy is being able to spend quality time with the entire family and each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for those who’ve stuck with this and read to the end. It’s probably not a typical Amy/Sarah RPF but they have such chemistry both on and off screen and the idea for this fic came from a hypothetical conversation of how they could ever be together if they already have families of their own. It was hard to continue the story at times because of the unfortunate news that came out in late June, but we tried not to let that take the magic out of continuing as this is fictional and just for fun, although you may have noticed a bit of a shift to focus more on Amy and Sarah in the later chapters. We were hoping to post the epilogue sooner but it has surprisingly been a little hard to let it go. But it is time.
> 
> Also, it is Amy’s birthday today! Please wish her happy birthday on one of her social media pages.
> 
> Twitter  
https://twitter.com/AmyAcker?lang=en
> 
> Instagram  
https://www.instagram.com/theamyacker/
> 
> At weibo  
http://weibo.com/u/6063621502
> 
> Amy Acker official page  
http://amyacker.com/


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